Do to others the way you would have them do to you
by phoenix220
Summary: The Dark Ace could not believe his luck, capturing the leader of the Storm Hawks so easily; he always was a bleeding heart. And now he lay powerless before him...
1. Chapter 1

The Dark Ace could not believe his luck, capturing the leader of the sky knights so easily; he always was a bleeding heart

A/N_ I haven't written anything in a long time so don't be too harsh if you're going to review. I've got the whole story written on paper, I'm just putting it on line as I type it up. Hope you like it! _

The Dark Ace could not believe his luck, capturing the leader of the sky knights so easily; he always was a bleeding heart. And now he lay powerless before him.

Aerrow open his eyes and for a moment was puzzled as he looked around, this was not the Condor. As he sat up his body reminded him that he had taken a lot of punishment the day before. His ribs ached and his ankle was worrying him. He didn't think anything was broken but he doubted he could walk. He quickly discovered his hands were cuffed behind his back and he struggled to sit up and take in his surroundings. The room was twice the size of his bunk on the Condor and the bed he sat on was very comfortable. He staggered to his feet and his ankle gave a scream of pain and he grabbed the footboard on the bed. He realized he was stuck, hands behind his back barely keeping him upright and he let go. He fell to the floor with a grunt.

"My, my Aerrow you are stubborn aren't you?" Aerrow craned his neck to see the speaker but he already knew who spoke with such oiliness.

"Dark Ace,"

"Well isn't this nice, we can all sit and have a little chat about our differences and work them out like civilized people." Dark Ace stood right over the fallen Sky Knight. "Wait a moment, that would require you to be civilized and not just a Storm Hawk brat who thinks he's a sky knight like Daddy."

"Keep your filthy mouth off my father." Aerrow rose himself to his knees, as far as his bruised body would let him go.

Dark Ace sank down into a crouch to look Aerrow in the eyes. "My dear boy, you are in no position to demand anything, let alone the choice of conversation." Aerrow stared into the red eyes of his father's betrayer. The smiling face that his father had trusted, the face that played with Aerrow when he was a young boy. Ace broke the staring contest by punching Aerrow in the stomach. Aerrow sank onto the plush carpet. "Now, you will be my guest for a while and I expect you to use what ever manners you have managed to gain in your short life. My ward will care for you if required but if you are a naughty boy we will not be as nice."

"Aren't you just going to take me to your master?" Aerrow tasted the iron tang of blood as he spoke.

"Master Cyclonis and I have had a difference of opinion. She is my master in all things but she has a craving for you that I do not understand, and as such I wish to investigate more before I divulge your capture. For the mean time, you will be treated as a guest if you act like a guest. There is no escape from this terra, no skimmers, no ships so escape would be meaningless. I have no intention of harming you, well, after this point, unless you wish to spar that is, I'm sure we could improve ourselves. At any rate," The Dark Ace withdrew a set of keys cards from his pocket and held one to the scanner on the cuffs. "these will be replaced if you misbehave in anyway. For the moment you are confined to this room, that may change."

The Dark Ace stood and backed away from Aerrow, judging what the young man was going to do next.

Aerrow drew his wrists onto his knee and chafed them in turn to get the blood flowing again. His left hand started to cramp and he winced. His attention was drawn to the door as a woman floated in as if she was in a dream. Her long white hair concealed her face and her long white gown hid her body but she moved with grace that belied the white hair. She turned her face towards him and he was surprised to see a girl around his age, slightly older maybe staring at him. She had no emotion on her face but she was pretty enough. Aerrow surmised from her vacant countenance that she was probably mentally challenged. Around her neck, wrists and one ankle were bands of silver studded by a jade green crystal Aerrow didn't recognize.

"Ah Emerald Jewel my dear, Aerrow this is my ward Jewel, she is the only inhabitant on this terra, except for myself on occasion, and you now of course. She will be your keeper for the duration of your stay. I wouldn't try and coerce her into helping you escape, she is a special girl, and totally obedient to me." Ace turned to the girl and held out his hands. She drifted over to him and took the proffered hands. "Jewel my dear listen carefully. This is Aerrow; he's your new house guest. He is not to leave the Terra; he is not to leave the house, is that clear?"

"Yes Dark Ace"

Aerrow was taken aback by the orders the Dark Ace read out to this strange girl. The replied to every question the same way. How was he going to get off this mountain?

A/N _so did you enjoy? It gets better; Aerrow explores his strange prison and the other storm hawks search for their missing commander. Review and let me know that you're reading it. Cheers! Ps if you spot any outrageous mistakes or errors let me know and I'll fix them, no beta just lil'ol me._


	2. Chapter 2

A/N hey second chapter

_A/N hey second chapter! Thanks to two people who reviewed, Aven and Paigeylou._

Piper flicked the crystal on the table in front of her making it spin. She'd been staring at the same crystal for over forty minutes. She flicked it again as it slowed. Her best friend had left her. She knew it wasn't his fault but it did not matter at that moment. She heard a chirp from the door and Radarr stood looking at her.

"Hey Radarr, you ok?" The small creature shook his head and his ears drooped as he walked over and climbed onto the table. Since Aerrow had been captured Radarr had taken to staying close to Piper, using her as a surrogate for his friend. She scratched in between Radarr's ears and he closed his eyes, enjoying the moment. "How could he leave us? What are we supposed to do with out him?" The squadron wasn't a squadron without their sky knight. Piper heard a sigh at the door and turned to see Finn lurking in the door way.

"Hey Piper, can I hang with you? Junko's eating again and I'm just not in the mood to watch." Finn slumped in without waiting for a reply and flopped onto a stool.

Piper flicked her crystal again and the three Storm Hawks watched it spin. "We got a com from the sky knight council." Finn was speaking very softly, like he wasn't happy about what he was talking about. "They sent their apologies for our loss. Then some spiel about the nobility of being killed in the line of duty. They're writing him off as dead and kinda suggested we do as well. Three weeks with no word of ransom," Finn stood and threw his stool across the room, shattering some clean glassware Piper used for experimenting. Piper said nothing; she'd had a smashing hour two weeks ago. "He's not dead, he can't be." Finn braced his arms on the table and hung his head. Radarr laid his small paw on Finn's hand, letting the Storm Hawk know he felt the same. Finn gave him a half hearted smile.

"Listen Finn, I believe the same thing. I know he's not dead, he's hidden away somewhere. Think about it, have there been any big attacks in the last three weeks, has there been any sightings of the Dark Ace? We know it was him in charge the day Aerrow was taken, maybe they're building up to something, what ever is going on I know it isn't a coincidence."

Aerrow stretched his back out. He moved slowly and gracefully as his glided from position to position following the pattern dances taught to him by his mother. To stretch and strengthen, she had taught him, its all very well packing a punch, but if you can't last in a fight your doomed. These movements also gave Aerrow a chance to think, his body following the routines it had known for twelve years left his mind free to plan. His spacious room gave him the peace he needed.

One week trapped in this room had driven him to distraction and he had pushed his still healing body through the punishment of the pattern dances he hadn't practiced in a year. It had exhausted him all through the second week but now he was feeling stronger and suppler than he had in a long time. Now at seventeen he had achieved his full height, taller than his father had been and needed work to fill out. Piper always said he was a scrawny git.

He wondered how the Storm Hawks were doing without him. His sacrifice three weeks ago had spared the Condor but were they coping without him. He missed Stork's pessimism, Junko's gentle enthusiasm, Finn's narcissistic sarcasm and Piper quick wit. And Radarr would miss him. The little creature's love for Aerrow was evident, and it was returned. Above all he missed the freedom to go out on a skimmer. There was no wind on the house; he couldn't even go outside to exercise. The doors were all locked and that strange girl followed him about.

Aerrow stopped half way through a move as he thought of her. She puzzled him greatly. No matter what he did he couldn't get her to react to him. She was polite and attentive to his needs but she wouldn't talk, or really look at him. Her pale face kept its neutral expression through all of Aerrow's efforts. The Dark Ace must have some kind of hold on her, no one was so lacking in a personality.

Aerrow shook himself and assumed the first position of his last move as he thought of the Talon Commander. The Dark Ace had been around occasionally during the last three weeks. He had on occasion spent time with Aerrow. Aerrow's face reddened as he remember the day the Dark Ace walked in on him exercising, and making a mess of it

"_It's good to know you're not perfect." Aerrow picked himself from the carpet and turned towards the voice. It was half way through his second week of imprisonment and Aerrow hadn't seen the Dark ace for a few days. Aerrow just glared at the man and took a deep breath to calm him as he began the movement again. Just as he had himself centered, the deep voice intruded again._

"_What is this you're wasting your time with anyway?" The Dark Ace moved further into the room._

_Aerrow sighed loudly, giving up on his exercises for the moment. "It's a pattern dance of Sky Fu. My mother taught them to me. They help strengthen the body and calm the spirit." Aerrow lifted a glass of water and drained it. "Anything in particular I can do for you today?" Aerrow sat down on his bed and wiped his face and neck with the towel lying on the bed._

"_I was wondering whether you would want to spar with me; since I brought you here there has been no one worthy of a bout."_

"_So what you're saying is that I'm as good at you, and no one comes close."_

"_I wouldn't go as far as saying you were as good as me, but you not bad." The two rivals smirked at each other._

That started a series of bouts in the sparring room that led to bruises on both of them but they were well matched, Aerrow's youth, speed and inventiveness held out against the stronger, older and more experienced Dark Ace. Sometimes one or other won but often it ended as a draw when Dark Ace was called away.

Aerrow was confused and wished he could find out more about the strange girl and the Dark Ace who wasn't treating him like a prisoner while imprisoning him. He had to get home somehow.

_A/N Already typing up the third chapter, it's longer. Next disaster strikes the Condor leaving one Storm Hawk badly injured. When Aerrow hears he tries to escape._


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Third chapter ready, that's two in one day out, I'm impressed with me

_A/N Third chapter ready, that's two in one day out, I'm impressed with me. Just shows how much free time I've got just now._

One bright morning during the third week of Aerrow's capture he was finishing brushing his teeth when he heard a strange noise. He wandered into his main room and heard it again; it was music, faint but clearly music. Aerrow hadn't heard any since he arrived and it drew his attention. He wandered out of his suite, something he did rarely and followed the sound. It led him to one of the smaller reception rooms in the house. He crept up to the open door and peered through the gap. The girl was dancing in the middle of the floor to music coming from a stereo. It was a graceful movement that made her hair float around her face. Aerrow could vaguely see her expression. He was shocked to see she had a faint smile on her face as she moved. He pushed to door open and watched her. The song came to an end before long and she ended her dance with a flop to the floor and a sweep of her arm to draw her hair back. She raised her head to see Aerrow smiling at her. He had enjoyed her dance.

"That was," Aerrow didn't get to finish his sentence as the girl leaped up and darted out the other door to the room. Aerrow, never one to give up a chase took off after her. "Hey, Jewel, stop!"

Aerrow had longer legs and was faster, but the house was Jewel's home and she knew where she was going. She leaped over furniture and darted through nearly unseen doorways. Eventually Aerrow caught her in the kitchen, a large box of supplies blocking her escape route. He grabbed her hand.

"What's wrong? Did I scare you? I'm sorry." Aerrow watched as a myriad of emotions pass over her face. Fear, curiosity and frustration at being caught all went through her eyes. Aerrow couldn't believe that the stolid girl of the past three weeks was displaying so many emotions. "Jewel, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm fine." She spoke slowly and clearly.

"Then why did you run?" Aerrow let go of her hand, now sure she wasn't going to run away from him again.

"Because I'm not supposed to talk to you when Ace is so far away." She brushed past him and started to walk out of the kitchen. Aerrow followed her and she walked over to the window of the large dining room they had just run through.

"Why not? Do you think I'd hurt you?" Aerrow sat on a nearby chair.

"No, when Ace is far our connection weakens and I grow out of control, apparently I've hurt myself." She stood fingering her necklace.

Aerrow wondered whose control she grew out of. He decided not to push to hard; He didn't want to scare the girl. "That was a beautiful dance before."

"Not as beautiful as the ones you do every day." Aerrow felt his face reddening as he realized he wasn't the only one doing the watching. Jewel walked over to his large seat and sat next to him. "You are the first person I've talked to in along time."

"Why do you stay here with him if you're unhappy?"

"I'm not unhappy, lonely sometimes, but I have good life. This house is so grand, and it's all mine. Ace gets me anything I could ever want; he's like a big brother to me." Jewel laid her head on Aerrow's shoulder and cuddled up to him. He was unsure what to do at first, not many girls had cuddled up to him recently, but he slung his arm round her and they sat watching the clouds roll by in companionship silence.

"So how are you chaps holding up?" Starling had shown up to check on the Storm Hawks as soon as she could. The loss of the most promising young sky knight on the Atmos had hit her hard. After losing her squadron to the Repton's she looked on the Storm Hawks as close friends, even potential squad buddies eventually. She knew the loss of their commander could destroy them.

The glazed looks from the four faces did nothing to relieve her worries. As she suspected they were barely surviving. "Everyone's given up on him. The council has told us to get over it. They won't help up find him. Apparently four weeks is too long to be hopeful."

Starling knew that two weeks was the longest anyone hopes for in the Atmos. It was the length of time you could survive in the wastelands with out water. Anywhere else missing people could contact others or could be ransomed. It was endearing that Aerrow's crew cared so much but they had to get on with their lives. Piper must have read it on her face.

"You think he's dead too don't you? He's not, we'd know. The Dark Ace has him; he's been unseen for as long as Aerrow. He's not dead."

"They could have killed each other. They could have both been stranded in the wastelands after their rides were totaled. You don't know."

"Until I have definite proof I'm not giving up on him. He wouldn't give up on me, I know he wouldn't." Piper had the support of the rest of the Storm Hawks, even Stork, though he was convinced the search would end in all of their dooms, at least they would see Aerrow in the after life.

What ever Starling was going to say in reply was cut off by the proximity sirens. Stork ran towards the bridge. "Someone's coming, let's not beat Aerrow to the afterlife."

Starling assumed command of the Storm Hawks. She sent Junko and Finn to the Blaster Cannons and Piper and herself to the hanger. They took off on their rides to face the oncoming enemy. It was a squadron of Talons on a long range scout. The fight was short and ugly. Finn and Junko took care of as many as they could but Piper and Starling were too close to the action to risk anymore blaster shots. Starling disabled a Talon skimmer and caught the rider by the chute as he abandoned it. She failed to note that the damaged skimmer fell in the path of Piper's heliscooter.

Piper heard the incoming skimmer just before it hit her rotor blade. She was sent careening into the side of the Condor, falling a large distance to land badly on her leg. She slipped off the ship and landed on a Talon's skimmer that had lost its pilot. Piper hit her head on the metal armor and blacked out. Starling managed to intercept the skimmer and grabbed the unconscious girl onto her ride. She flew back to the hanger of the Condor.

"Is she going to be alright?" Finn was hanging over Starling and Stork as they tried to stabilize Piper. Her head wound was serious and she had yet to regain consciousness.

"Finn, I don't know, but she'll be a lot better if I can concentrate on her and not on your bobbing head. Junko, set course for Terra Atmosia, she needs a healer."

After Piper had been seen to Starling turned to her captive. She took him to the bowels of the ship so she wouldn't be disturbed.

She threw the man to the wall. "Do you know anything about a missing sky knight?"

The Talon glared at her. "There is so many these days, how am I supposed to keep track of ever stupid sky knight that crosses our path."

"Ok try this one, where is your boss, the Dark Ace? He's not been around much recently." Starling gripped the talon by the neck and raised him off his feet.

"The Dark Ace is in Cyclonia, with my master, he is working on Master Cyclonis's master plan." The talon was finding it hard to gain enough oxygen to talk.

"And that master plan would be?" She released her grip slightly, just to let enough oxygen to his lungs to let him talk.

"I, I don't know, I'm not on her privy council. Please, I don't know." The talon was turning slightly purple and started to claw at her hands. She released him.

"You will be turned over to the council for crimes against Atmos at the next Terra we land. Starling dragged him up and locked him in one of the unused bunks.

Starling stretched her neck out. She had learned nothing from that idiot. Not that a random soldier was likely to know much. And with Aerrow's second in command out of action the moral of the crew was going to be even lower. Starling headed back towards the bridge. She passed Aerrow's bunk and glanced in the open door. Radarr was lying on Aerrow's bunk with a very sad look on his little face. Starling had never quite understood the relationship between Aerrow and the strange creature, he wasn't a pet, not a person but a bit of each, and keenly missed his best friend.

He's not the only one, Starling thought as she continued to the bridge.

_A/N I know I said Aerrow was going to attempt to escape this time but the part between him and Jewel kinda came upon me and took over the chapter. Next time: Aerrow finds out about Piper's injuries and attempts to get to her. Dark Ace makes a __reappearance and is acting strangely. Ace takes Sky Fu lessons from Aerrow. _

_Cheers_

_xxx_


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: ok this gets a bit naughty at the end, but I don't think it's too bad. If anyone thinks I'm using too low a rating let me know before you report me, I'll bump it up._

Aerrow was finishing his dinner in his room when his door opened suddenly. The Dark Ace stamped in closely followed by Jewel. Aerrow was disappointed to see she was back looking stolid. Dark Ace's presence obviously affected her. He stood up; the look on the Dark Ace's face worried him. It was too close to compassion, an emotion Aerrow didn't think he was capable of.

"Aerrow, I have some bad news for you. Your navigator, the girl in your squadron was injured. On of the Talon's got back to base and reported that a purple haired sky knight bitch captured him and set him down for arrest but he escaped. He told Master Cyclonis his squad had injured, possibly killed the girl."

Aerrow's knees buckled under him. Piper.

The Condor was a quiet ship as they waited to hear the healer's results. Piper had been deemed too ill to be moved off the ship so the healers were brought on board. Finn, Junko and Radarr were in the Mess hall with Starling waiting to hear.

The chief healer walked in and they all stood up. "She's going to be fine. A bit battered, her leg will need support for a while but her head is in one piece." The Storm Hawks breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're sure she'll be okay?" Starling wasn't so quick to celebrate.

"She has no fracture, no hemorrhaging, just a bad concussion and a fractured leg. It was all very dramatic but not serious, there is no need to panic."

Aerrow was panicking. His best friend was possibly dying somewhere and he was under house arrest. Ace and Jewel had left him soon after dropping the bomb shell. He racked his brain for anyway to get off the terra but every time he tried an outside door or window it was locked. But, he thought, the Dark Ace was always away when he was trying, maybe they're just safe guards to keep the girl in, she obviously has more freedom the further away he is, maybe all the locks are in place to keep her in when he's out. Aerrow knew he didn't have long before the Dark Ace would be leaving; he never spends more than a couple of hours in the house. Aerrow slipped his boots on and slunk out of his room.

It was all going so well for Aerrow till he slipped climbing out of the window. The fall to the ground hurt but he was okay. His mostly healed ankle twanged as he landed on it but he kept going. He spider that thought he looked tasty wasn't the worst part of his escape either, though the bite on his neck throbbed badly as he ran through the rocky terrain. If He hadn't tried to jump that gap to the hanger bay, he'd have never fallen face first at the feet of his captor. It was definitely Dark Ace's fault that Aerrow ran off the edge, landing on his back. What ever the reason, Aerrow ended up flat out on a healing matrix in nothing but his underwear.

"Now I understand you want to see your friend but you cannot leave. Something I failed to tell you was that we're in the middle of Cyclonian territory, you'd make it one kilometer before meeting your first patrol. Plus anything you'd be flying out of that hanger would not fair well in a fire fight. Your Ultra may cope better than it should but I assure you, you would have been worse off that you are now, cracked disc or not. Two weeks on the healing matrix will see you all better."

Aerrow now knew how the Dark Ace could always bounce back from injuries so quickly. The healing matrix was a new technology that only the extremely rich could use to speed along their healings, used mainly to speed up post surgery healings. Ace must be on this thing a lot. Not that Aerrow was complaining, the ache in his head and ankle was nothing to the tension in his back. The Dark Ace says he's for a fractured disc, Aerrow believed him, not the worst injury he's inflicted on himself in his relatively short live, but certainly up there.

After lying for a week, thinking he'd lost his best friend and would never escape to see any of his friends again the Dark Ace paid him another visit.

Aerrow grew self conscious as the older man examined him, grasping him and moving joints to make sure everything was healing nicely. "Jewel, would you come here please?" The girl floated on from another room. She glided over to him. "I have to leave for a week and Aerrow needs to start exercising his muscles or they'll atrophy. You need to work all his limbs and each joint to limber them up okay." He turned to Aerrow. "One of the downsides of this marvelous machine is that you cannot move until your better, it was a build in paralyser, as you may have noticed." Ace smirked. "The acceleration of the healing process builds up lactic acid in you muscles so by working them before your up and about it will lead to a shorter rehabilitation. Jewel, take care of him, work all muscles and ensure he stays clean. Don't take this personally Aerrow, you are starting to smell." Ace walked out of the room.

Aerrow lay on the glowing machine as Jewel walked over to him. Her face was expressionless as she started with his left leg and worked each of his joints and muscles. He could feel cramps form and disappear under her hands as she worked her way up his legs. His teenage body betrayed him as the girl massaged his groin muscles at the very top of his legs but she ignored the obvious swelling under his boxer shorts.

She moved up his body and by the time she got to his shoulders Aerrow was feeling much better. She leaned right over him and the sweet smell of her hair engulfed him. He recognized jasmine in her perfume, a scent he knew and liked because Piper wore a similar perfume, one he'd bought for her birthday.

The smell and hair disappeared suddenly and he opened his eyes to see her approaching with a basin. She laid it next to him and removed a sponge. She started sponging his body down, cleaning a week's worth of sweat off with deft strokes of her arms. As she drew close to his nether region he felt his body reacting again. He couldn't help but be aroused; a girl was giving him a sponge bath for Atmos' sake. She seemed to ignore it again but after she'd finished cleaning his feet she started to remove his shorts. He gasped as she gently cleaned his now throbbing manhood, and moved it to clean under.

"Jewel, what are you doing?" Aerrow had realized she had a personal space issue, never having anyone's space to invade but this was getting serious. Part of him was trying to shut up the other parts, enjoying this first touch from the opposite sex but the logical part knew this meant nothing to her.

"Ace told me to work and clean every muscle." Aerrow did not have time to protest before she descended on him with her mouth.

Being seventeen and it being his first time he tried his hardest but eventually couldn't hold himself back. He lay panting as Jewel cleaned him up and replaced his boxers with a clean pair and left him.

Again his head was warring with its self, one half thinking whoopee, and the other thinking where did she learn to do that with only the Dark Ace for companionship for all those years.

_A/N see, not too bad was it. Could have been naughtier, if I bump to rating up later I'll revise this chapter and make it more detailed. Any way, next chapter Aerrow and Dark Ace spar and Aerrow digs for information on Jewel while the crew on the Condor settle into a routine without Aerrow. Meanwhile Cyclonis suspects Dark Ace may be betraying her and sends some one to investigate._

_Also, if you are reading this, review it, even a word of two just to let me know you exist. Four reviews is brilliant, tege and Falconyx, thanks for taking the time. _

_Cheers_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N ok, 5th chapter, cheers for reviewing, tege and Aven

_A/N ok, 5__th__ chapter, cheers for reviewing, tege and Aven. Please review after the chapter, even just to say hi!_

Jewel returned ever other day and worked his muscles and cleaned him. He distanced himself when she removed his underwear. He couldn't bring himself to enjoy it mentally but his body refused to ignore her. He lasted longer each time but she was adamant in her ministrations.

Aerrow judged the fortnight to be over and therefore himself healed one day when Jewel appeared. This time she refused to look in his face the whole time and was careful not to lean over him. And she left his boxers on.

"Jewel, are you there?" Aerrow realized she was herself again; it had been so long since that morning she had cuddled up to him. She didn't look at him.

"Yeah Aerrow, I'm here."

"Please turn round; look I just want to talk to you."

Jewel reached out and turned the machine off. Aerrow found he could lift himself up. He swung his legs out and stood up. He wobbled for a moment then touched her arm. Jewel turned round and looked Aerrow in the eyes. He could see she was flushed with embarrassment. He pulled her into an embrace and she stood for a moment, stiffly in his arms before melting into them. She wrapped her arms round his shoulders and rested her head into his chest, the top of her head coming under his chin.

"I know you didn't have any control over what you were doing, I understand," Aerrow loosened his grip slightly so he could look her in the face again. Her eyes looked a bit red rimmed like she'd been crying earlier and she looked afraid of what he was going to say next.

He gazed into her icy blue eyes for a moment before capturing her lips with his. He held her tightly as he pressed his lips on hers. She parted her lips slightly and he slipped his tongue into her mouth a little. He tasted her unique flavour and felt her tongue come to meet his. He lifted her in his arms so he wasn't bending to kiss her and she wrapped her legs around his waist to hold herself better. They broke apart both out of breath before reclaiming each others lips more hungrily. Aerrow pressed her tightly against himself and they both felt him getting more excited. Aerrow broke the kiss and laid his forehead on hers.

"We have to stop, I can't, do this. I'm sorry." Jewel's eyes brimmed with tears as she unwrapped her legs. He set her down and she stumbled away from him. He grabbed for her before she could bolt. "Please understand, tomorrow Ace will be back and you'll go back to what ever it is you are when he's around and I'll want you, I'll want you to wrap your legs round me again and you won't, you won't even remember this, and I can't, surely you understand." She nodded her head, tears slipping out of her eyes. Aerrow captured her lips once more before stepping away. Jewel slid her hand out of his grasp before running out of the room. Aerrow slumped onto the healing matrix, that other part of him whacking him on the head with a really large stick. He really needed a cold shower.

Things back on the Condor were settling into a routine. Piper was stumbling about with a crutch to keep weight off her bad leg as she worked endlessly to chart their current missions as well as figuring out where Aerrow could be. She wanted to go on a scouting mission to a few of the terra's surrounding the Cyclonian territory but Starling had been taking missions on the far side of the quadrant, too far for her heliscotter to make the journey to and from the area she most wanted to be. Piper suspected Starling was doing it on purpose, she had caught the navigator charting the nameless terra's over a week ago, and here they were, heading to Terra Saharr for a cargo mission. Nothing very exciting but it would keep them flying.

Piper still refused to give up on her friend. Radarr was out of sight most of the time now, hiding away in Aerrow's bunk and only eating when Piper coaxed him. She wished she could lie and cry all day for a while.

Aerrow was back in his room and centered to begin his exercises when there was a knock at the door. Not used to anyone knocking he called out for them to enter. The door opened and the Dark Ace walked in.

"You up for sparring yet?" The older man folded his arms over his chest.

"I don't think so, I've not exercised in two weeks, I'm not going to let you pound me just cause you've had a bad day." Aerrow assumed first position and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to calm his mind.

"And you think these silly stretches are going to get you fit again?" The Dark Ace walked over to stand in front of Aerrow.

Aerrow's eyes snapped open in frustration. "You know if you're here to aggravate me you can just fuck off."

"Ooo, my, my aren't we tetchy."

"If you knew what you were talking about you'd know how taxing they were."

"Then show me."

Aerrow showed Ace the easiest pattern, slowed right down, taking the moves three at a time until he'd covered the thirty five movements.

"Remember, your movements have to flow, you have to fully extend your limbs and stay balanced." The Dark Ace scoffed the advice off, he was well trained in fighting, it was just slow fighting.

Aerrow called out the movements as he glided between them. He sank onto his left leg will the right one was extended to the front, straight out. He grinned as the Dark Ace fell on his backside for the eighth time in twelve movements. Aerrow rose up and twisted at the waist so his leg was out to the side and he lowered it slower than he should have, knowing Ace's muscles would be burning and he'd get pissed.

"Just because you can do all these fancy movements, it doesn't mean you're a good fighter, I still kick your ass often."

Aerrow never faltered in his movements, pivoting on both feet to extend his arms above his head. "Yeah, just not as much as you'd like. Just think how good I'll be when I'm as old as you."

The Dark Ace surged to his feet, the burning in his thighs momentarily forgotten. "At least I'm not a snot nosed child with pretensions."

"Ace I'm old enough to be registered with the council in three months, and I was the youngest through the Academy ever. Not something I'm embarrassed about. Are you just jealous that some one so young is better than you?"

Dark Ace didn't reply. "You do like them young though, that Jewel after all, I mean you're the only one who knows about her, and she's so pretty, do you get lonely at night?" Aerrow stopped moving and waited for his reply. He was so still he heard Ace swing for him. Aerrow knew he was pushing Ace so he let the older man get the drop on him and pin him to the floor. He smirked up at Ace.

"Jewel is my ward, basically my daughter, how can you insult me by saying I took advantage of her, she's," Ace broke off and dragged himself off Aerrow to sit on the floor. Aerrow swung his legs round to sit cross legged next to the man. He misjudged it though and knocked the Dark Ace over the head, catching the man's headdress. It tumbled to the floor. Aerrow went to apologize but the Dark Ace hadn't moved. He turned his face to Aerrow's and Aerrow was taken aback by the blue eyes that stared at him. The Dark Ace's face was shocked.

"Aerrow," the voice that should have been commanding and powerful, came out like a whisper. "You've got to help me; she's going to destroy everything."

_A/N ok the ending was a bit crappy. Not happy with it. But it gets us onto the next part._

_Anyone figured out what's happening yet? Big connections made in this chapter. All will be revealed in the next couple of chapters. Ok not all cause there is loads left but some stuff revealed. Like someone paying a visit to the house, a very unwelcome someone. Bit of Aerrow bashing, some Dark Ace bashing. All good though. And will be better than the last couple of paragraphs of this one. Promise._

_Cheers_

_xxx_


	6. Chapter 6

A/N hey folks, disappointed that I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, I guess you weren't impressed

_A/N hey folks, disappointed that I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, I guess you weren't impressed. Sorry, had an off day. Anyhoo back on track hopefully. There is some Aerrow torture at the end of the chapter, nothing too bad but hey thought I'd warn you. Enjoy_

Aerrow was still staring at his former nemesis. The man had a sudden personality change. He'd just blurted out Cyclonis's master plan, the destruction of the Sky Knight Council, hoping that will plunge the Terra's into darkness. Without the council to regulate things the outer Terra's would be defenseless and the Sky Knights would be unable to communicate so unable to mount an attack.

"Aerrow, please you have to believe me!" Aerrow fought his logical side, it telling him he was being lied to, this was the Dark Ace, but the blue eyes were filled with guilt and fear, not snide and loathing.

"Say I do believe you, why tell me now, you've had me for five weeks, what makes today special." Aerrow caught Ace's eyes turn to the headdress. He picked it up and examined it. It seemed to be Skytaniam, with five jade green crystals dotted around it. And the Dark Ace was avoiding looking at it.

"I can't explain it to you; I'm not permitted to talk about it. Let's say me and Jewel have a lot in common, if not blood."

Aerrow felt answers slid together like pieces of a puzzle. The crystals in this stupid tiara thing were the same as the ones in Jewel's jewelry.

"Ace, are these controlling crystals?" Ace didn't answer, that told Aerrow more than it didn't. "Who holds the master crystal? Ace?" Aerrow could see Ace's face grow paler. "You can't talk about it at all can you? Great. You have to let me go. You could come with me. Distance obviously affects these things, though why you can't talk about it while you're not even wearing the damn thing is beyond me." Ace looked at Aerrow fearfully.

"Ace, I can help you, Piper, my navigator, she's nearly as good as Cyclonis, she can break this hold. We just have to get back to the condor." Ace nodded his head and the two men got up to run towards the hanger. They both skidded to a halt as they saw Snipe standing in the doorway. He held Jewel by the throat and he was smiling.

"Dark Ace, you wouldn't betray our master would you? I don't know if I could watch you fall from your pedestal, well not without recording it for future viewing." Snipe laughed at his own joke. Snipe threw Jewel into the room and Aerrow caught her before she fell on the floor. As she stood up Aerrow could see her face was stoic as usual. The Dark Ace must hold her master crystal, he thought.

"I'm sure master Cyclonis will want to meet your guest. If you'll just release him to me." Ace stepped up to him.

"You sniveling ungrateful fool. If you think you can take what is mine you are mistaken. You have never bested me in a bout, and I will beat you again." Ace didn't get to call Snipe for a challenge. Ravess walked through the door and shot Ace with her bow. The arrow was carrying a paralyzing crystal and Ace fell to the floor. Ravess lifted his headdress from the floor and placed it back on his head.

"There now, that's better; we'll just keep this little moment of madness between us."

"Ravess, you can't be serious, if the Dark Ace is disgraced,"

Ravess interrupted him. "Then the Talon's will have no commander and no idol to look up to. Do not think me a fool brother, this man prevents us from rising in the master's eyes but he has his uses. Anyway, the capture of the infamous Storm Hawk will elevate us slightly. Come brother, we shall take him together."

Aerrow moved in front of Jewel and readied for a fight when Ravess shot him. "Did you think I was going to fight you boy, don't be stupid." She beckoned for two talon's to lift Aerrow and bring him and the girl with them. Snipe waited till his sister had swept from the room before kicking the Dark Ace in the stomach. It wasn't quite as satisfying because he couldn't cry out but it did make him feel better. A few more sharp kicks to the prone body in front of him put him in a fabulous mood and he went to leave. Something shiny caught his eye and he bent and ripped a crystal from around the Dark Ace's neck. He thought it was pretty and would maybe make a good gift for Ravess, she liked green.

Aerrow finally gained movement in his limbs just before he was dumped into a cell on Cyclonia. He'd tried to track his movements through the castle but being unable to turn his head make it difficult. Jewel had been tossed into a cell two down from him. She had not acted like any of this affected her, but they were far enough away for the crystals to stop acting. She should be able to think for herself, as long as the Dark Ace keeps away from Cyclonia. Aerrow felt his body object to his moving around after being thrown into the cell like a sack. He stood and stretched out. He could not afford to grow stiff if he was going to escape.

Unfortunately, the guards all knew to be very careful around him. He was getting the full Sky Knight treatment, three guards waiting ever time the door was opened incase he tried something. He waited to see what they were going to do with him. It was the third day of this treatment that Ravess turned up. She loped a crystal into his room through the barred window on his door. It exploded in a puff of smoke and Aerrow felt the world grow dark.

Aerrow didn't think it was possible to wake any where worse than a Cyclonian prison cell but he was wrong. Cuffed to a wall in a torture chamber was definitely at the top of the list. He'd been stripped to the waist and the sharp stones of the wall behind him dug into his skin. He had no idea how long he had been hanging there but his shoulders were burning.

Master Cyclonis was sitting to one side of a large table fiddling with something Aerrow couldn't see. Aerrow looked around the room and then wished he hadn't. There was a body in a Talon uniform hanging on an adjacent wall. Aerrow couldn't even determine whether is had been a man or a woman. He didn't wasn't to think too hard about what could have mutilated the face.

He was broken from his thoughts by the young master rising and turning towards him. Cupped in her hand was a steel grey crystal. It was covered in sharp edges; even Master Cyclonis had blood dripping from her hands; her manic grin and slightly scary eyes notwithstanding.

"Do you recognize this crystal sky knight?" She smiled pleasantly as the blood dribbled from her fingers.

Aerrow didn't answer her. She raised the crystal up, as if to give him a better look. He pulled away from it as much as he could but she held it right at his face. He could feel the blood from her hands drip into his chest; it left wet feeling trails as it slid down. He grimaced as the crystal touched his face. It stung and he felt blood trickle down his cheek.

"This is a spear crystal sky knight; it likes to cut through skin. The slightest pressure will slice you open. I could push it through your whole body with no effort. Of course I'd cut my hand but it would be interesting to see who'd say uncle first. I don't have an uncle; do you have one sky knight?"

Aerrow always knew Master Cyclonis was a few spare parts short of a skimmer but this person in front of him had lost her mind. No wonder even the great Dark Ace had to be controlled by crystals. Aerrow spotted a familiar green crystal hanging round Cyclonis's neck.

"I see you have discovered my Dark Ace's little secret. He's a dear boy but so squeamish. Even gave him a little play mate but he seems to have grown bored of using her. Oh well she can be replaced. It will be interesting to see how far the controlling crystals can be pushed. Can they overcome even the human survival instinct?" Cyclonis wandered away from Aerrow, lost in her thoughts. "I wonder if I could get her to push this beauty into herself." Cyclonis lifted the spear crystal up to the light. Aerrow watched the blood pour out of the fingers holding it. The grey surface was drenched in her blood. She walked back over to Aerrow and held the crystal up to his face again. This time she slashed it down the front of his chest, from the left of his neck to his right hip. His whole torso burned as the crystal sliced deeply into it. He felt weak as the girl grinned wider as she stared at the gash she had made. She grasped the side if the cut and pulled it to see inside better. Aerrow let out a gurgled scream before passing into blissful unconsciousness.

_A/N well that's six chapters out now, I'm proud of me. Just a warning for any silent readers,( i.e. non reviewers it ok as long as you enjoy the story) and the faithful few who review, its my birthday this weekend so I may not get another chapter out till Monday._

_Prize for anyone who can guess my age correctly._

_Cheers_

_XXX_


	7. Chapter 7

A/N so much for not getting stuff out this weekend

_A/N so much for not getting stuff out this weekend. Have re written this chapter a few times, never being happy with it but the plot bunnies took over last night and kept me awake giving me ideas. Hope you like it. It's my birthday tomorrow!_

Aerrow was getting sick of waking up in captivity. He lay on his back on the floor of what looked like the same cell he had been in before. But them it could have been any cell in the whole prison. He couldn't move, the pain in his chest was too much. He wasn't bandaged up but the wound had closed over. He realized he must have been unconscious for days if it had healed this much. Or spent some time on a healing matrix he realized, if the Dark Ace had one there was no doubt Cyclonis would too. He lay on his back thinking about his squadron. He wanted to be back on the Condor, even listening to Finn's music. He felt an unbearable wave of homesickness for just a second before it passed. He couldn't afford to be weak here; it would only get used against him.

He drifted off into a restless sleep but was rudely awakened only moments later by his cell door opening. Someone was thrown into his cell with a gasp of pain. He made himself sit up slightly so he could see, it made his chest burn but he had to see. Jewel was in a heap on the floor sobbing. Snipe and Cyclonis were at the door, with six Talons as well. A bit over the top considering he could barely move, it was not likely he was going to be getting up and running away. Jewel continued to cry and Aerrow reached for her. He managed to get a hand on top of one of hers and she jerked away, stopping her tears for just a moment and peering at him.

"Aerrow?" Aerrow gave her as much of a smile as he could manage. She crawled over to him on her knees and collapsed against him. Aerrow hissed in pain but put his arms around her.

"Isn't that sweet Snipe, I did not know Dark Ace shared his toys so well. Well this is even better than I thought. I wanted to see how far your sky knight sensibilities could be pushed but love is much better than honor, much easier to manipulate. Snipe take the girl." The large man stomped over to the pair in the floor and lifted the girl out of Aerrow's arms easily. Aerrow saw her face properly for the first time and felt the cold press of anger in his gut. A newly healed scar cut across her face, right through her left eye, from his position he couldn't tell if she had been blinded in it. It seems as though he wasn't the only one getting Cyclonis's attentions.

"Does this anger you sky knight? Such a shame to ruin a pretty face but she wouldn't talk to me. I thought that was rude and so she was punished." Cyclonis raised Jewel's face so she looked at Aerrow. "This wouldn't work out my dear, did you know that, he was as pretty as you were before your little 'accident', now I'm afraid he outshines you. Girls rule number one, never date anyone who is prettier than you. Oh well." Cyclonis let Jewel's chin drop.

"Now, my little sky knight I have a choice for you. I want to play today but I don't mind which of you my playmate is. But they have to be able to walk out of here themselves. So, can you pull your agony filled body off the floor and walk out under your own power or do I redesign her face? Maybe I'll remove her lips or her eyelids, Grand'ther told me bedtime stories of a prisoner he'd done that to, and I've always fancied trying it. Choice is yours sky knight." Cyclonis watched with demonic glee as the young man before her struggled to his feet. By the time he's gained his feet he was so papery white she suspected a stiff breeze would knock him out. But he stumbled over to the door, catching himself on the wall. He clutched at his chest and took some deep breaths to calm the fire burning his torso. He straightened and Snipe and Cyclonis made a path for him to walk through. He summoned the last of his reserves and walked through the door as straight backed as he could manage. The Talon's grabbed him as he walked across the threshold and hauled him along the corridor, his feet falling out from beneath him.

Before he knew it he was cuffed to the wall again. This time facing it with his back exposed. The sharp rocks poked at his tender skin but because he wasn't moving the deep agony caused by moving the split muscles had calmed. He was still reeling from the pain when he felt someone approach. Something cold touched his neck and he froze.

"Time to play, sky knight. I can't bring my self to touch your pretty face, it would be a crime after all, the little nick I gave you yesterday makes you more sophisticated but I like your eyelids. Maybe I'll remove the girl's anyway." Aerrow wished he could see the crazy girl behind him. He was totally unprepared for the strike when it came. At first he had no idea what had hit him, it burned and stung in a long line down his back and he could feel a brush of cold that said he had blood on his back. It wasn't till the nest strike happened that he heard a slight crack, he registered it was an energy lash, set on low or it would have cut right through him. Six lashes later he wished it was set on high. Every strike caused his body to jerk, making his previous lashes and his chest scream out. He felt the ninth lash hit when his vision start to darken. He could tell his body was going to give out on him. He took a deep breath and tried to centre.

_Wind, I am wind. Nothing can touch me I drift passed. I am fast, I am wind._

Aerrow didn't feel the next strike. Cyclonis didn't notice he didn't react to it, or the next one. She also didn't notice the crystal in the energy whip starting to glow, or the dozens of other crystals in the room, all glowing slightly and starting to resonate together.

_Wind is not affected by anything; worlds are torn by me, molded by me. I control the air. Nothing can harm me._

As Aerrow centered himself in the universe he felt _things_ around him hum with energy. He couldn't see what they were but they increased in a crescendo until his bones vibrated with them. It was like the start of the lightning claw, only magnified by a million. _The crystals_, he realized. That's what the sky knight move was based on, perfect resonance with your energy weapon. And Aerrow was resonating with every crystal in the room.

He felt for the power and pulled it into himself, just as he did with the crystals in his daggers. He opened his eyes and was aware of everything in the room. Everything had stopped, just for a millisecond, as he held the power, Cyclonis was tensed for another strike, three talons were grinning further back in the room. Jewel was in an energy cage, crushed onto her knees by the streaks of green energy. Aerrow could feel the energy starting to disrupt as he got distracted but he pulled it back and released.

The energy snapped away from him and he followed, the cuffs deactivating as the crystals powering them deactivated. He landed in a crouch; his leg stretched out and watched the show.

_A/N Whatcha think? Please let me know, next chapter Aerrow makes his escape and he and Jewel get closer. Dark Ace gets captured by sky knights. And Snipe gives Cyclonis the green crystal he took from Dark Ace. Fun fun fun._

_Cheers_

_Ps the rating may go up, it'll depend how the next chapter comes out. I've changed things so much from my original copy as I've been typing it. Anyone particularly against the rating going up, or for it let me know. _

_XXX_


	8. Chapter 8

A/N Long chapter for you

_A/N Long chapter for you. There wasn't a reasonable place to stop. Rating remains the same I'm sure you noticed. Anyhoo, I'm another year older, not good._

_Thought I'd put a little shout out to my reviewers, I haven't done it for ages. BlueSapphireGirl, tege, Aerrow4eva, Aven, Falconyx and Paigylou._

_This huge chapter is for you six._

_xx _

The world has a frequency at which all natural things resonate. Each source of energy has its own unique frequency and only those at total harmony with the frequency of the world can pull all these resonations together. It requires great skills in concentration and can be destructive if not controlled properly.

Aerrow had not given his outburst any form of control; he had pulled the power in and let it lash out. The pain of the last day and his rage at his captors had made him act rashly. The power laid everyone in the room out cold. Aerrow watched the rampage unfurl slowly, his head still in tune with the energy. Master Cyclonis, surrounded by so many crystals, was unconscious before she landed in the floor. The talon's were blasted off their feet and landed near the far wall. The crystal powered equipment was trashed, all the energy having been pulled out so violently.

Aerrow saw Jewel's body slumping to the side as the bars on her cage deactivated. He straightened and the world resumed its normal speed for him. He hurried over to Jewel and lifted her.

Running towards the cargo bay with Jewel was taxing his already abused body. Something about his outburst had numbed the pain in his back but he knew he'd pay for it eventually. He just hoped he could find a skimmer and get away before it resurfaced.

The whole place was a mess of sirens and people running, even a half naked sky knight carrying a silver haired girl was over looked. He moved Jewel over his shoulder and ran down another corridor. He burst into the cargo bay and saw a few abandoned switchblades. He grabbed an overall from a peg as he ran to the vehicle. He tossed Jewel over the seat and dressed himself before revving the engine and sailing out of Cyclonia. He wasn't even chased; the switch blades in the sky seemed to be flying aimlessly.

"Maybe I knocked out the comms network," Aerrow grinned to himself. Jewel started to moan in her sleep. She jerked up and Aerrow had to dip the glider to make sure she didn't fall. He helped her sit up. She tucked her dirty white dress round her legs so she could sit astride the bike and gripped Aerrow round the waist. She tucked her face into his back.

"Aerrow, I was so frightened. I thought I'd never get out. And then you, what did they do to you?" Jewel realized she was hugging Aerrow's injured back and slackened her grip. "Did I hurt you, I'm sorry. Oh gods, Aerrow are you alright?"

"I'm fine Jewel. And so are you now. We're out and they're not following." Aerrow was a bit worried that his lashed back wasn't hurting; he hoped he hadn't done some nerve damage. "I'm going to stop at the next Terra and get us some help. We need to contact my squadron."

They flew for another hour on the switch blade, both of them getting colder by the minute as they flew over the wastelands. Aerrow kept Jewel amused by telling her about his squadron, she asked him questions about them and laughed at his responses. When a Terra finally came into view Aerrow realized it was Terra Saharr from the sandy colour. He landed the borrowed vehicle near the Great Bazaar and they walked in.

Aerrow was looking out for Blister, or any of the Third Degree Burners, the sky knight squadron of the Terra, to see if they could contact the Condor. Aerrow started to feel a tingle from his back as the sweat ran over the wounds. Jewel reached out and took his hand. He glanced over at her and realized she was feeling very uncomfortable.

He stopped and pulled her closer. "Jewel, what's the matter? Are you ok?" Aerrow stood in front of her and held her hands.

"Aerrow, it's so big and bright. There are people everywhere. I, I've never been anywhere like this."

"Jewel, I promise we'll be alright here, the Burner's watch this Terra, they're a bit competitive but a great bunch of sky knights." Aerrow proceeded to tell Jewel about the great race when Dark Ace disguised himself. Jewel felt bad about laughing at Ace but Aerrow kept laughing when he was telling it.

They passed a group of men on skimmers without noticing them. Blister looked up as he heard their laughter. He saw a familiar shock of bright red hair and he ran up to the man.

Aerrow felt a hand on his shoulder and tensed. He grabbed the hand and flung the assailant over his shoulder to land in the sand in front of him. He assumed a fighting stance as the body hit the ground.

"Aerrow, its Blister you idiot," the body coughed as it spoke and Aerrow saw it was the Saharr Sky knight as the dust settled. Blister picked him self up and gave Aerrow a huge hug.

"Where have you been mate? You've been written off as dead for weeks. Should've known no Talon could've done you in mate." Blister put his arm round Aerrow, still in shock at seeing the youngest Sky knight alive.

"Thanks Blister, this is Jewel, another Cyclonian escapee, Jewel this is Blister, leader of the Third Degree Burners."

Jewel took the offered hand and shook it slightly. "Aerrow told me all about you when we arrived. It's an honor."

"Nah love honors all mine. Right boyo, we need to call your squad and get them down here on the double." Blister looked at Aerrow before walking away and paused. "You alright mate? Hard time over the last few weeks eh?" Blister took Aerrow's face in his hands and turned it, looking the young man over.

"You've got a few more scars than the last time I saw you, not all of them visible either I'd wager. Come on lad, we'll get you settled and I'll make the call to your squad. A nice cool tent and something cool to drink will make you feel better. Can you wait till dinner time for food? It's in an hour and you could join us on the carrier for some good chow. If you can't wait I could rustle something up I'm sure."

"Shade and a drink will be fine for us just now thanks Blister. We'd love to join you for dinner."

Aerrow and Jewel were shown to a small tent that was surprisingly cool on the inside. Aerrow let out a sigh as the heat let up. Jewel sat on the cushions and stretched out her legs. "Is it always so hot here? How can they stand it?"

Aerrow chuckled and poured them each a glass of cloudy liquid. Blister told them it would replace their salt levels and glucose needs. He carried them over and sat next to her.

Aerrow drank till the glass was empty, the drink had no taste but it soothed his sore throat. He sat thinking about the past six weeks, how was he ever to explain it. He hunched over his knees. His back felt tight as he stretched it, the feeling obviously returning. He'd screamed in agony as Master Cyclonis tortured him, and learned that his most hated enemy was as trapped as he had been. It had been so confusing he didn't know how anybody would understand it, let alone believe him.

Aerrow was dragged from his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. "Aerrow, what's wrong?" Aerrow let him self be dragged to a lying position on his side facing her.

"I'm wondering how I'm going to explain all of this. And I'm going to have to do it a million times. It's going to be hard."

"Well you don't have to worry yet. Right now we can relax. Before it all starts. At least you don't have gapping holes in your memory." Aerrow chuckled and gazed into her eyes, smiling. He ran his hand over her cheek and drew her in for a light kiss. Jewel closed her eyes and kissed him back. They broke apart smiling at each other.

Jewel caught his lips in a more serious kiss opening her mouth inviting his tongue in. He caught her body up and pressed it against his invading her mouth. "Jewel," he started.

"Aerrow, before I was given to Ace my name was Kestrel, he named me Jewel. I'd like to go back to it, if that's ok with you."

"Can I call you Kes?" Aerrow smiled.

"Absolutely." She kissed him again. He turned her onto her back and leaned over her, partially covering her. She ran her hands over him as he held her tight.

_A/N chickening out from writing a sex scene, sorry._

They lay in each others arms, Aerrow's coveralls discarded and Kestrel's dress half off. Aerrow was on his back, holding a lightly dozing Kes on his chest. His back was getting more uncomfortable. He shifted and Kes roused.

"You ok Aerrow?" She smiled tiredly at him.

"My back's starting to hurt. Finally paying for all the crap I've gone through today. God it is still today isn't it; this has been the longest day ever." Aerrow stretched his back and felt a trickle of wetness. His back started to burn. He slipped back into the coveralls, trying to make sure Kestrel didn't see how much he struggled. He didn't want her to worry.

Kestrel took his movements as a cue to straighten herself out. "I must look a fright. Oh what I wouldn't give for a shower." She yawned and stretched. Aerrow looked her over, thinking she looked pretty good. Her long silvery white hair was a bit tangled, her face and hands a bit dirty and her dress ruined but after what they'd gone through it was good. He caught her icy blue eyes glaring at him. "You don't have to stare you know."

"What can I say, I like what I see." He bent down and pecked her on the nose. He instantly regretted it as his back flared. He straightened slowly.

The tent curtain opened and Blister poked his head through. "You pair alright? Dinner's nearly ready if you want to come with me, you can grab a quick wash. Aerrow, your team'll be here after dinner, possible sooner. Piper says she's got a couple of velocity crystals saved so she's going to use 'em." Aerrow smiled.

Aerrow held his hand out for Jewel and helped her up. He held onto her hand as they walked back out into the heat. The hot air slapped him across the face and he paused for a moment, taking a deep breath, the burning on his back intensified in the heat, making him dizzy. Kestrel looked at him in concern but he smiled and walked on. They were taken to the carrier and climbed on board. Aerrow sighed in relief as the hot air vanished.

They sat down to a simple meal after quickly washing their faces and hands of two days of prison dirt. Blister offered to try and find them clean clothing, but Aerrow said he was too hungry to care about clothes. Aerrow picked at his meal, his injuries removing any real appetite.

"You not hungry mate?" Blister looked at the boy in concern; he should have devoured the food after two days of nothing.

"I think I'm just tired Blister. It is good though." Aerrow forced another bite down. It settled as a hard lump in his stomach.

Kestrel ate lightly with exceptional manners. She didn't give much conversation but listened to the Third Degree Burners chatter.

"You want to tell us what happened?" Kes stopped eating and stared at Blister. She turned her attention to Aerrow who was staring at his nearly full plate.

"It's difficult to explain. I spent 5 weeks with the Dark Ace on some random terra in the Cyclonian territory. I tried to escape but cracked my back. Snipe came and took me to Cyclonis two or three days ago. She wanted to play." Aerrow shuddered. Kestrel unconsciously covered her scar.

"It's alright mate, don't. You'll have enough people who want the details. The fact your back is enough for us."

The burner's pilot came into the mess hall. "Blister, Storm Hawks approaching, they're hailing us."

"Tell them to land. Well lad, do you want to go to them, or will I invite them aboard?"

Aerrow weighed the options. "We'll go to them, thank you for the hospitality Blister, but we need to rest."

"Not a problem mate. I think you finished anyway. Come on, we'll go wait for them ground side." Blister stood up and Kes followed gracefully. Aerrow pushed himself up, fatigue and blood loss making him slow and clumsy.

He followed the pair out of the room and eventually out onto the terra. They were just in time to see his ship land in the sand a few feet away. Aerrow felt his heart lift at the sight of the beaten up old ship. Home, he thought. As soon as the wheels touched the ground the ground hatch fell open and three people ran out. Just in front of them was a small grey blue blur, bounding up. Radarr wrapped himself round his master.

Aerrow returned the hug, holding his friend close. He'd missed the little creature. Piper threw her hands round him as well. Tears fell freely from her eyes. "Aerrow, oh my god, I knew you weren't dead, I knew it." Piper was pulled off by Finn who bear hugged his captain. Aerrow turned grey. His back was agonizing; he barely managed to hold himself up as Finn put him down. Before he could even try to speak Junko walloped him on the back. "Good to see you buddy."

Aerrow fainted and landed in the sand. His team, Kestrel and Blister all looked in shock at the dark wet patch on his back. The grey coveralls were soaked with something. Junko held his hand up. They all gasped at the bright red liquid covering the Wallop's hand and arm.

Blood.

_A/N: well folks how was it? I thought it came out well. Next time Aerrow explains where he's been, the Storm Hawks take him to Atmosia for a healer and a debriefing from the council. Also Cyclonis gets a certain green crystal from Snipe and uses it to inflict more pain on the Storm Hawks. I'm so bad to poor Aerrow._

_Cheer_

_XXX _


	9. Chapter 9

A/N Two huge chapters in one day, I'm on a roll

_A/N Two huge chapters in one day, I'm on a roll!!_

"What's wrong with him? Why is he bleeding?" Piper went into hysterics. Blister grabbed up the young sky knight, trying to keep him on his stomach as he lifted him.

"Well you stay here and figure that out. I'll take the lad and see about some treatment." Blister sarcastically said to her. He ran off to his carrier, knowing he had the greater medical knowledge than the kids as well as better equipment.

Ten minutes later Aerrow was laid out on his stomach with only his boxers on. His stripped back was open to the air and oozed fresh blood. Piper was sobbing on Finn's shoulder, unable to look at her friend's back.

"What happened to him?" Blister ignored Junko's question, he was still intent on stopping the bleeding and replacing the boy's fluids.

"Cyclonis whipped him. She was going to do it to me, but he wouldn't let her." Kestrel stood at the back forgotten.

"And you are?" Finn asked.

"Kestrel, Aerrow saved me." Kes started to cry and backed away, she sank against the back wall.

"Energy whipped by the looks of things. He's in a mess. I thought he was just dead tired. He didn't even mention he was injured." Blister laid a gauze pad on Aerrow's back. "At least the lashes are clean. They'll heal over time. Junko, give me a hand would you." Junko and Blister raised Aerrow up and wound a bandage round Aerrow's chest and back.

"What did that scar on his chest? He's been through so much." Piper managed to look after the wounds were covered.

"I don't know, maybe the Dark Ace did it." Finn looked very angry at the thought.

"Ace didn't hurt him." The voice came from KEstral, who was across the room on the floor.

"Aerrow said he broke his back, that's certainly hurting him." Blister had finally finished with Aerrow and they laid him down to rest.

The four people confronted Kes. She cowered at their feet. "Where do you fit into this? Aerrow said he saved you, and you said he took your lashes. What were you doing there.

Kes spoke through tears. "I was Ace's ward. I didn't know what was happening in the world, I lived in a big house by myself. Ace brought Aerrow and left him there. Aerrow broke his back trying to get to Piper when she was hurt. He had a stupid accident. I cared for him while he got better. And then a big man came and took us away, I was left in a dark cell alone and heard the screams of the other people. Some girl came and cut my face when I wouldn't talk. She used a grey crystal. Se said she was going to make me push it through my stomach." Piper whispered _spear crystal_. "The next day I was thrown into Aerrow's cell. She said she was going to remove my lips and eyelids if he didn't get up and walk out of the cell." Kes could barely talk over her sobs. The others started to feel bad about confronting her. "He had that big scar on his chest, it was all red and angry but he hauled himself up and walked out of the door. I could see he was in agony. I couldn't say anything I was so scared." Piper crouched beside the girl. She put her arm around the shaking shoulders.

"Come on, lets get you up. You don't have to tell us any more. Aerrow obviously cares for you. That's enough for me." Piper stood and pulled Kes up with her.

"He did something to make her stop. He released an energy blast, it drained all the crystals and wiped everybody out. I woke up on a glider in the air. He saved me."

Aerrow knew he was waking up because everything hurt. Not as bad as it had when he fell unconscious but still not great. He blinked open his eyes and winced at the brightness of the lights. He was lying on his front and he could feel a restrictive band around his chest. His left hand was being held by someone he couldn't see. He turned his head and saw Kes sleeping in her chair. He smiled and squeezed her hand. She came awake instantly.

"Aerrow? Oh thank goodness. How are you feeling?" Kes stroked his mad red hair.

"Oh like I've gone five rounds with Ace. And lost. Where are we?"

"Your on the Condor, we're heading for a healer, your back's a bit of a mess. Something you could have mentioned before fainting." He smiled and shrugged a shoulder.

"I didn't want you to worry. Am I allowed out of bed nurse? Or am I going to get another sponge bath?" Aerrow grinned cheekily. She swatted him on his shoulder, making sure it was lash free.

"You naughty boy, I think you should haul your backside out of bed. Your friends are glad your home, they want you back in charge. Finn keeps complaining Piper picks on him." Aerrow chuckled weakly then used his arms to lift his body enough to get his legs over the side of the bed. He sat for a moment, waiting for his back to scream but it just throbbed.

He got up and stretched his legs. He caught sight of what Kes was wearing. It was a hybrid of Piper's uniform, with some red as well, obviously using what ever fit her to club together an outfit. Aerrow appreciated how much it clung to Kes's figure, showing off her slim legs, swell of hips and narrow waist. Her long silver hair was pulled back into a pony tail.

"Your staring again." Aerrow looked her in the eye, moving his gaze about a foot north from its previous position.

"Hey you look great." She walked over to him. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close.

"Well, one must do one's best." Kes grinned up at him. He brushed an escaped hair off her face. He ran his finger down the scar on her face. She would bare it forever, just as the one slicing through Aerrow's jaw would never fade. She dropped her gaze and started to break from his arms.

Aerrow refused to let her go though and wrapped his arms around her. "You are beautiful. This scar is a reminder of how strong you are. I love it and you. I wouldn't change you for the world."

Kes blushed. Her next question came out as a whisper. "You love me?"

Aerrow blanched for a second, having never said that to anyone before. "You know I didn't think I knew what love was. But I need you, I am happy when you're here in my arms. Yes, I love you. I love you more when your legs are wrapped round me," Kes slapped his chest lightly, "I just can't believe where I met you."

"Well it'll be one hell of a tale to tell the grandkids." Finn's voice drifted in from the doorway. The two lovers jumped apart a bit but Aerrow firmly brought Kes back into the circle of his arms.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Finn. You'll just scare him off." Kes smiled at the slightly panicking look on Aerrow's face. "Don't worry yourself about the future dear. We need to get you healthy first." Kes lead Aerrow out of the room and they followed Finn to the bridge. Aerrow automatically dropped Kes's hand as he walked out onto his bridge. Finally he was home.

Aerrow stood shirtless as his team went about their tasks. It was four days since he had woken up and he still couldn't get his shirt over his head, so he went without. Kes had naughtily told him she liked seeing him walk about topless. He replied he'd rather see her doing it.

"After we land on Atmosia the Sky Knight Council are wanting to interview Aerrow. They've never had a escaped prisoner with such full knowledge of the inner workings of Cyclonia, most don't make it out." Piper was going over their plans.

Aerrow had neglected to tell anyone of the destruction of the torture chamber. Kes had filled them in on most things leading up to their escape and no one had asked him to elaborate. He was going to have to try to explain what he did, how else does he explain his escape.

Aerrow wandered over to the windows and looked out at the passing clouds.

Piper was worried about Aerrow. He wasn't opening up to anyone. He looked so depressed most of the time. Kestrel seemed to cheer him up, but Piper just worried if he'd ever be their captain again.

She walked over to him. "Hey you."

"Hey Piper." This is what Piper had been getting, the minimum of contact.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine."

Piper decided she'd had enough. "Aerrow what's wrong? Where's our sky knight? Who is this stolid nobody that hides from his crew? I want the old Aerrow back."

Aerrow stared at her. His face showed no emotion. Piper slapped him. He recoiled from the slap and a red handprint appeared on his face. Piper had expected him to be angry. Nothing could have prepared her for the betrayal and the hurt in his eyes.

Aerrow stared at his best friend for a moment then gazed at the others, all staring at him. He looked back at Piper and saw regret in her eyes. He turned and strode out of the bridge. He didn't stop walking till he reached the hanger. He mounted his skimmer and revved the engine. His crew and Kestrel poured into the hanger just as he was about to take off.

"Aerrow, don't leave." Piper called out, tears streaming down her face.

"I can't stay, I just need time, you don't understand." Aerrow turned away.

"How can they understand if you won't tell them what happened. They're too afraid to ask." Kes walked in front of the skimmer, blocking Aerrow path. "Aerrow, you have to help them understand." She pleaded with her eyes. Aerrow turned the engine off.

He hung his head and kept his bandaged back to them. "I woke up some many times in bad places, each one worse and worse, I'm scared to go to sleep incase I find out I'm dreaming, and I wake up back on Cyclonia, with the insane Master and her collection of toys. Five weeks of missing you guys, hearing Piper nearly dies, all cause I wasn't here.

"I didn't know what pain really was till Cyclonis got her hands on me. She, she hurt me," Aerrow felt a few tears trickle down his face. He sniffed them back as much as he could. "I just wanted to die. I wanted it all to stop. And now I'm stuck with these reminders that are tight and nip and itch like crazy. Am I going to be able to go back to being me? What if I'm broken?" He whispered the last.

He could tell his squad was walking closer even though his eyes were closed. He ducked his head further down to hide his freely flowing tears. A light hand on his back was quickly joined by the rest. He could even feel Stork's lightly trembling hand. He was drawn into a hug by his team. He could feel their warmth and he basked his cold heart in it.

"You are not broken. You are just like this ship. Just patch you up and you're the best thing in the air. Always were, always will be. And stop hiding things from us." Finn showed a rare moment of inspiration.

"So this is from Dark Ace is it? This is a master controlling crystal. This must be his little toy's remote control. I have excellent plans for our little escapees. Ravess, take this crystal to Atmosia, if you are on the same Terra she will not be able to resist, she might defy my orders over this distance." Cyclonis detailed her exact orders, plotting out the demise of the one who bested her at crystal magic.

Aerrow was given an nearly clean bill of health. The Council Healer put him on a healing matrix for three hours, speeding his recovery up by three weeks. Even the celebrity of breaking out of Cyclonis had not given him long on the matrix, the crystals were so expensive. Aerrow walked out of the temple feeling like a new man. The interview with the council was next. Aerrow felt a lot more confident about it now that he could stand straighter. He walked at his full height towards the council buildings, his squad with him. Junko was walking with Kestrel, the gentle wallop having made friends with the girl.

The council interview was as bad as he first thought. They went into every detail, every day of his imprisonment with Dark Ace, to the revelation that he was being controlled by crystals and the capture by Snipe. Then came the part where he escaped.

"So you were cuffed to a wall getting lashed then you escaped? How?"

Aerrow could feel twenty pairs of eyes on him. His squad was anxious to find out what happened. Starling sat in the audience glad to see the young sky knight. She'd left the squadron when they heard about Aerrow being on Saharr, she had business else where but couldn't expect the squad to wait. Sitting two seats behind starling was a cloaked woman, eyes intently staring at Aerrow.

"I distanced my self from it all. I figured she was going to beat me to death. I concentrated and centered my self. Then I could feel humming coming from the air surrounding me. It was like when I pull the lightening claw from my daggers, but magnified by a million. I pulled the energy and unleashed it. It made a mess, all the crystals in the room drained and everyone else was knocked out. It numbed the pain long enough for me to get out onto a switchblade and land on Saharr. Blister found me and contacted the Condor."

"What do you mean you centered your self?"

"It's a detachment from your physical form. It's used in meditation and pattern dances to ignore your muscle aches."

"Very well sky knight Aerrow you are dismissed. You deserve a rest and time to recover. You earned a stipend for you discoverings and you can claim it from the bursar." A stipend is a small amount of money, given to sky knights when they perform duties above and beyond their normal ones. Usually given to survivors of dangerous missions.

Ravess watched the Sky Knight debriefing and waited for the right moment. She held the pendant in her hands and gripped it tightly, cutting her hand on the sharp edges. She allowed three drops of blood to fall on the crystal's surface where they were absorbed. She glanced up at the girl and saw all the emotion fall from her face. The idiot little thing hadn't removed the controlling crystals, and now Ravess controlled her movements. As the Storm Hawks left the court room she made the girl follow them. They didn't notice she was a bit slower than usual.

As they got out into the foyer of the council buildings Aerrow relaxed. It was finally over. He turned and glanced at Kestrel. He noticed she was looking a bit odd, but he put it down to the large amount of people in the hall, she still wasn't happy around crowds.

Suddenly she ran out of the group and up to the first guard. "You've got to help me," she screamed at him. "I've been raped!"

"Who by miss?" The guard came to full attention.

"Him!"

_A/N Yet another cliff-hanger. Though I'm sure you can all guess who she's talking about Just as he was happy. This fic has a happy ending, honest. But the ending is still far off. Anyway next chapter: Aerrow is arrested and the other prisoners don't like him. The other Storm Hawks try to figure out what is going on. Kestrel remains in Cyclonis' power, what else will she make her do?_

_Review, please, every time I get one I write more. I've never had so many reviews, and I love them all. I always hated people who ransomed their next chapter for a certain number of reviews. I'm not going to do that because I don't like blackmail. _

_How about bribery? Pretty things for reviewers? Love to offer money but I don't have any for myself!_

_Anyway, to all you hundreds of readers (well its possible, a girl can dream can't she?) I'm off to bed, hope you enjoyed my latest chapter._

_Cheers_

_XXX_


	10. Chapter 10

A/N Oh it gets exciting

_A/N Oh it gets exciting. Getting near the end now, only a couple of chapters left. But have a couple of ideas for a sequel, if any one is interested._

The finger pointed at Aerrow and he was surrounded quickly.

The other Storm Hawks were so shocked they allowed themselves to be pushed away from him. Aerrow was quickly pushed to the ground and his hands were cuffed together. He glanced at Kestrel, her finger was still pointing at him. He let himself be lifted up off the ground and carried out of the hall. He felt his heart drop to his shoes.

--

Yet again Aerrow sat in a prison cell. Again his wrists and shoulders ached from being tied up. The only difference this time was he was imprisoned by the good guys. He was being charged with an offence, a very serious one, one that could kill him, or get him sent to the slave mines.

The council will probably hush it up. Wouldn't do for the people to think a sky knight, someone who'd gone through the academy, and the trials, could hurt anyone. Carver had disappeared. No big trial, no public sentencing. And he's failed in his treason. If I'm found guilty.

Aerrow's head swam with thoughts. How Kes could betray him, and lie. How could she love him and accuse him of doing something so horrendous.

"She never said she loved me." Aerrow whispered the horrible truth to the air in his cell. He realized she'd been playing along. Aerrow sank to the floor and his forehead touched the dirt. He felt a single tear trickle down his cheek. He thought of her smile, the way she moved, the way she smelled, even the way she felt, tucked against him.

He heard something approaching him. He glanced up and saw three huge men, in cells adjoining his hanging through the bars. Aerrow straightened him self.

"He's a pretty one. Nice face and so slim. What do you think?" One of the men grunted.

"He's as pretty as a girl. Bet he feels as good as one too." The fattest one slobbered as he spoke. Aerrow had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"D'ya know what he's in for boys? Our little princess is a rapist. And a sky knight."

"He's a bit young for a sky knight isn't he?" Aerrow snorted at the jibe. He'd heard it a lot over the last four years.

"You wait princess. We'll see you on the exercise yard. We'll see how you like it."

Aerrow watched the three men walk away from his cell with trepidation. A sky knight, in a prison filled with people captured by sky knights. He was in a lot of trouble.

--

Piper, Finn and Junko watched their friend get dragged away. The girl was escorted away to give a statement and she didn't even look at them.

"Aerrow wouldn't, he couldn't," Piper stuttered.

"Of course he didn't." Starling's voice came from behind them. "Aerrow is too decent a man to ever do anything like that. The council will look at his record and will find him innocent."

"Starling, if the girl protests too strongly, I mean its his word against hers."

"The only way they'd believe her is if they have physical evidence. A sky knight's word is worth a lot more than a civilian's."

--

Aerrow lay on an examination table. They were scanning his DNA so they could check it against any evidence they could find. Aerrow lay still. If he behaved himself and was the model prisoner maybe they'd believe him.

He was taken outside afterwards. Surrounding a great field of grass was a huge perimeter fence. It stood fifteen feet high and was topped with elecrowire. One zap from that and you would be out for days. Various activities were on offer in the exercise yard, body building, arts, running and others.

Aerrow spotted his three 'friends' at the body building equipment. Aerrow decided he could do with a run and headed to the opposite side of the yard.

He ran round the track at a decent pace. He outdistanced most of the other runners due to his youth and training. On his fourth lap he noticed three large figures heading his way. He slowed slightly and tried to find a guard to go and stand near. All the guards were on the other side of the three moving mountains heading towards him.

"Hey princess, your looking very delicate running round this track." The fat one was slobbering on himself again. Fatty, Tall and Beardy, as Aerrow called them in his head surrounded him and Aerrow felt the wall hit his back. The other runners had found other things to get interested, not wanting to get involved.

"So you like hurting little girls eh princess?" Tall sniggered.

"Was she prettier than you?"

Beardy grabbed Aerrow and got a foot in the face for his trouble. Finally it took all three of them to subdue him. The only reason they managed that is because Fatty grabbed Aerrow's privates and held them. They manhandled him into the shower room. They proceeded to pound him into the ground. Aerrow tried to defend him self but it was in vain. Beardy slung him onto a bench and hog tied his hands and feet under it.

"Well princess, lets see if you like it the same way you give it." Aerrow felt his prison trousers get ripped off.

--

Aerrow lay bleeding in the prison medicentre. The guards had come in quickly as he screamed, but not quite quick enough. He was told he'd have no lasting damage. He curled up on the bed and felt his shattered heart ache. Too much pain, too much torture, all too soon. He wanted to fall asleep and never wake up. But he was too scared to fell asleep, in case he woke up somewhere worse. It seemed to happen a lot.

A healer told him he had a hearing the next day. The statements from the victim had been taken. Victim, he thought, nice turn of phrase.

--

The court room wasn't very full. Aerrow saw his squadron and Starling sitting together. Piper smiled at him, though she looked shocked. Probably at the sight of my bruised face, he thought. He'd been allowed to make himself as presentable as possible, basically a quick wash and clean prison uniform. He looked like he'd been beaten up. The guards had been told he'd started it. The three brutes were in solitary confinement for a month for what they'd done.

Aerrow listened as his crimes were read out. And they included trouble maker in the prison. He hung his head.

After the defense lawyer said his piece they called the injured party to the stand. Kestrel mounted the wooden steps. Aerrow gazed up into the face that accused him. She had on a dress he'd not given her so he assumed someone in the council had taken care of her. She stared straight forward. Aerrow felt a sinking feeling as they started to question her. She turned their time in the tent on Saharr into an evil event. She described horrendous things and Aerrow hung his head. He didn't want to hear it. They were going to find his guilty and hang him.

Then the prosecutor gave the evidence they had. Definite proof that Aerrow had sex with her.

Aerrow was put on the stand next. He couldn't raise his head. He denied all the charges. He was called a liar. He claimed they loved each other. He asked for Blister of the Third Degree Burners to be called. He saw them before and after the tent incident. He'd tell them that she wasn't telling the truth.

That was the biggest dagger in his back. The fact that he had to call her a liar.

"Would Jewel come back on to the stand please. And the Sky Knight of Saharr has been summoned."

The judge called Kestrel back to the stand. Aerrow paused. He didn't call Kestrel, he called Jewel. Aerrow's mind started buzzing. She's calling herself Jewel, she's acting like she did at the mansion. He looked up at her. Evident against her pale skin were the necklace and bracelet she'd always worn. He'd never seen her without it. And she was acting like her controlling crystal master was in the room. Aerrow craned his head to look at the audience. He ignored his squadron's attempts of support and saw at the back of the room a cloaked figure.

"High justice, please, I need to tell you something."

"Prisoners do not address the High Justice. You had your time to tell everything you could."

Aerrow was shoved back into his seat roughly by his guards. Right, that didn't work, he thought. Lets try something else.

Aerrow closed his eyes and blocked out all sounds. The last voice to disappear was Kes'.

_I am rock, solid and firm. Everything bounces off me. Nothing can move a mountain. _

Aerrow felt the humming. He could feel where every crystal in the room was. He pictured Kestrel standing at the front and found the resonance of the crystals round her neck. He could feel the line stretching from there to their master behind him. He pulled and pushed at the same time, drawing the energy from Kestrel's one and pushing to the master.

He felt all the hairs on his body rise. His body uncontrollable rose to its feet and then to the astonishment of the crowd, rose a little further, till he was hovering just off the ground.

The people in the court watched as Aerrow hovered and started to glow blue. Piper saw the crystals round Kestrel's neck glow the same colour. Suddenly the blue from the crystals shot towards Aerrow then out of him to a figure in the back of the room, which collapsed.

Aerrow raised his head and landed softly on his feet. The glow faded and he grabbed the seat behind him to keep his feet.

The room was chaotic. People were mutering all round him but he only had eyes for Kestrel. She was looking around confused when she burst into tears and collapsed in the stand. Aerrow tried to run to her but the guards stopped him.

Meanwhile behind him the Storm Hawks lifted the person n the cloak and removed the hood.

"Order, order in my court," the judge was furious.

The court room became silent. "Sir he didn't do it, I, I was lying. Please, Aerrow didn't do anything." Kes's voice was full of sorrow as she proclaimed Aerrow's innocence.

"Then why did you say he did? Perjury is a crime."

It wasn't her fault." Aerrow had regained his balance. "She was being controlled by the crystals round her neck. The master was sitting in the room the whole time." Aerrow pointed to his team's prisoner. The Dark Ace.

_A/N. I promise next chapter Aerrow finally gets a bit of happiness. I think he's suffered enough in this fic. _

_So the Dark Ace is captured, Aerrow is innocent and all is well. Well, maybe things are not as rosy as they seem…_

_Please review, I know it takes a wee while but it does help me. _

_Thanks to my reviewers, those wonderful people who take the time to tell me they like my story. _

_Biteylove, this chapter was for you_

_Cheers_

_XXX_


	11. Chapter 11

_A/N sorry its been so long since my last update; I got tangled up reading instead of writing! You have to check out Saerphe's work. They're brilliant._

_Anyhoo, on with the fic!_

The court was still in chaos as the Dark Ace was dragged out by the guards. Aerrow had to sit down carefully, mindful of his injuries and take a breath.

Kes was still crying in the stand. His guards had abandoned him to help with the capture of Cyclonia's number one man. His team were somewhere behind him. What happened? He thought. Dark Ace was controlling Kestrel, but he was wearing that stupid headdress, did that mean he was being controlled? Aerrow clutched his throbbing head. He felt his body shutdown with the shock of the recent events, his charges, his assault, and the drama of the day. He didn't feel the hand on his back. Someone pulled him upright and he peered at the face.

"Sky Knight Aerrow, are you well?"

Sky Knight? They must be dropping all charges, Aerrow thought absently. He was hauled to his feet but his legs collapsed.

"The charges against the Sky Knight Aerrow of the Storm Hawks have been dropped. He is free to go." Aerrow heard his team cheer, joined by several others in the crowd.

Suddenly Aerrow was surrounded by people talking at him. He couldn't make out what anyone was saying because of the blood rushing in his ears. He saw his team all smiling at him and he tried to smile back. He gained his feet and clutched a nearby table. The chatter around him lessened and they waited for him to speak.

"Aerrow, are you alright?" Piper's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Where's Kestrel?" Piper hesitated. Piper glanced over at the girl still breaking her heart in the stand; no one had gone to her.

"She's still in the stand, Aerrow I think you need to sit down for a moment." Aerrow pushed through the crowd and staggered over to the stand.

Kestrel was on her knees, weeping into her hands. Aerrow clutched the wooden surround.

"Kes?"

A tear streaked, very red face turned towards him. Her eyes widened and Aerrow saw real fear in them. "Please, I'm sorry, I'm, oh I didn't mean any of it, Aerrow," she whispered the last of it and slunk away from him, expecting a blow.

Aerrow reached for her but she batted his hands away, getting more and more frantic as he became more insistent. Aerrow got a hold of her arms and dragged her over to him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

Kes lay stiffly for an instant then melted into his arms. "Aerrow I'm sorry, I love you, I didn't mean to hurt you, I,"

Aerrow's battered and bruised heart soared as she declared her love for him. "Kes, I know, I know, and I love you. Oh gods I need you. Please get rid of those fucking crystals." Kes chuckled weakly and nodded her head into his shoulder.

Kes helped Aerrow up and they walked over to the crowd.

--

Aerrow was glad to be back on the Condor. It had taken three hours of explanations and apologies to get them out of the court and a promise they would not go anywhere tonight. Aerrow walked the bridge, touching instruments and enjoying the silence. The rest of his team was in the mess hall enjoying their supper but Aerrow wanted the solitude. Junko had come up behind Aerrow just before dinner and clapped his hands on Aerrow's shoulders to welcome him back to his ship and Aerrow nearly collapsed. He got so scared he almost ran from the room. Kes had found him on the balcony staring into the distance. She tried to get him to talk about what was bothering him.

She wouldn't understand, he thought, how could any of them.

He kept thinking about it, his brain could not leave him alone for even a minute. Nothing happened, he told himself, and the guards stopped it after only a few minutes, what is the big deal.

The big deal was the thought that it could have been worse; he couldn't fight them off him. And they thought they were in the right. Aerrow groaned and held his still throbbing head. He'd had the worse of his facial injuries seen to by Piper but he couldn't get her to help him with the others. Sitting was still a bit of a problem.

And then there was Kestrel, she had been quiet since they had returned to the Condor. The rest of the Storm Hawks were wary at first but Aerrow had taken her crystals from her and asked Piper to destroy them. Piper had been only too happy to comply. Kes was now back in her rag tag uniform and eating with the crew.

Or so he thought. "Penny for your thoughts commander?"

"They're not worth that much." He turned as she approached. She tucked her self under his chin and held him as if her life depended on it.

"What happened Aerrow? What's made you so edgy?" She held onto his waist but raised her head to look him in the eye.

"Honestly I'm fine. It's just been a hard week. I'm a bit all over the place." Kes knew he was holding something back as she tucked her head in again.

"If you're sure."

--

Aerrow was rudely shaken awake the next morning. Finn's face was the first thing he opened his eyes to. Not the worst thing I've seen when awaking, he thought.

"Come on buddy, they're sentencing the Dark Ace today. It was announced first thing this morning." Aerrow took a moment to come round.

"We need to get to the trial." Aerrow swung his legs round and sat up.

"Yo, dude what happened to you? You all bruised and stuff." Finn turned Aerrow round and checked out the myriad of bruises all over the young commanders back.

"Nothing, just a bit of rough treatment in the prison." Aerrow reached out and grabbed his uniform top. He pulled it on and grabbed his trousers. Once dressed Finn led Aerrow to the hanger bay where the rest of the team was checking their rides out.

"Morning Aerrow," Piper called out. The rest of the team called different greetings.

"Morning guys." Aerrow smiled. Definitely one of the best mornings in a long time.

--

They rode up to the Court room, Kes on the back of Piper's bike and went inside taking seats for the hearing. The room was packed. Aerrow realized they kept his trial hushed up but the trial of the notorious Dark Ace was going to be a popular event.

Aerrow saw his ex rival getting pulled into the dock. He saw Ace had been beaten as well; though it was more likely the guards than the prisoners that did it. Aerrow saw the headdress clearly on his head.

"He's still being controlled. I need to speak to the commander of the guards." Aerrow excused himself from the row and walked over to the dock.

"Come to gloat boy?" Dark Ace spat at him.

"Excuse me, I have information I need to tell the judge before this prisoner is sentenced.

The prosecutor came over. "If you have information then you can be called to testify in the stand. Are you okay with that?"

"Well yeah but it's not what you think." The man just waved him to sit in the witness box. It's going to be a hell of a shock that someone is actually defending Dark Ace, Aerrow thought to himself.

Eventually the court came into session and Dark Ace's crimes were read out. That took a long time. His most recent crimes were the abduction of a sky knight and perjury, forcing another person to lie in court. When asked how he pleaded, the Dark Ace told him to fuck off.

Aerrow was the only witness wanting to speak at the trial, they had so much evidence against the Dark Ace the judge did not see the point but as the sky knight was the victim in the Cyclonian's recent crimes, the judge decided the boy had a right to say what he wanted.

Aerrow smarted a bit at being referred to as 'the boy' but he mounted the stand. Before the prosecutor could ask him a question he interrupted.

"He's being controlled by crystals." The court started to murmur. "His headdress holds controlling crystals, I know because I knocked it off when he held me captive. Ravess put it back on him and Cyclonis must have sent him to control Kestrel."

"Lies! I am not being controlled, I am the master of the Talons, commander in chief, and no one controls me." Dark Ace spat furiously, standing up despite the arms forcing him into his seat.

Aerrow walked over to him. "Ace I know you better than that." Aerrow reached up for the headdress and Dark Ace leaped up, tackling him. Aerrow landed with a thump on his backside. He winced in pain and the Dark Ace took the opportunity to pin him, holding his arms above Aerrow's head.

Aerrow panicked and didn't really feel the Dark Ace being pulled off him. He was helped to his feet and he stood, leaning on the guard. The Dark Ace was still swearing at him as they pulled him back to the dock. Aerrow brushed the guard away and ran up to Ace, he jumped onto the dock surround and grabbed for the headdress. Ace managed to punch him in the face but Aerrow landed holding it.

The court stared at the Dark Ace as the red eyes faded to blue and the face stopped sneering. Ace sat down hard and stared at Aerrow. Aerrow grinned cheekily at him. Ace smiled back in relief.

--

"So you Dark Ace, want us to believe you were under Cyclonis' command this entire time?"

"When I was a member of the Storm Hawks I was captured. When I was released I was in her power. I killed the leader of the Storm Hawks and betrayed the Atmos. I could not do anything to stop myself. It was like being suspended in a dream, not being able to affect the actions of your own body."

"You have been the face of evil and terror for over ten years now, even if what you say is true, you are going to be hated, no one will trust you. If you are found innocent, what will you do?"

"I do not know my lord, I know nothing but being in the air. I would try to find something that I could do."

"He would become a Storm Hawk." Aerrow walked up to the stand, where Ace was giving his statement. "I'd have him on my team any day." The court was murmuring again, this time with outrage. Aerrow turned to Ace, who was as shocked as everyone else. "After all, I need the second best fighter in the air where I can keep an eye on him." Aerrow spoke softly enough so that Ace was the only one to hear him.

"Second best?"

_A/N another massive chapter, used to stop at 2 pages on word, now its 5. _

_Cheers to my reviewers, Biteylove, tege and Bluewizard16, you know I love ya!_

_XXX_

_Ps review, you know you want to._


	12. Chapter 12

Omg it's been a busy week

_Omg it's been a busy week. I had some folk over to stay and it ended up with us falling out. Fun. _

_Anyway this was a really hard chapter to write, cause I wasn't sure where I was going with it, everything has changed from the original idea, but I like how it's come about. Mostly relationship stuff with the new folk aboard the condor, hints at what's to come._

_Enjoy_

So it was decided that Ace would join the Strom Hawks, Aerrow figured the court couldn't prove anything and since he was a sky knight and wiling to watch him they let him go.

Ace was shown to his new quarters and given a Storm Hawks uniform, in different shades of blue, definitely no green or red.

The other member of the Storm Hawks thought their commander was insane. The Dark Ace could now kill them in their sleep. But Aerrow talked them round.

"Look, you don't have to trust him, you trust me. I wouldn't put my family in danger. He's just another person with no family and no where else to go. Sound familiar?" The crew thought back to their own pasts, each of them joining because of having nowhere else. Aerrow had given them a home and a purpose. "Please, understand, he's alright when you get to know him."

Ace was still given cool treatment by everyone except Kes. She spent a lot of time with him, getting to know the real Ace. Aerrow found them one day in her cabin, Kes sitting on the floor and Ace brushing her long hair. Kes smiled up at him as he walked in. She held her hands out to him and he took them, allowing her to pull him down beside her. He sat down gingerly; even a week had not made him comfortable when sitting.

"You ok Aerrow?" Ace twisted the long white hair round his hands.

"Yeah fine, still recovering." Aerrow shifted his position trying to get comfortable on the hard floor. "How are you settling in?"

"To tell you the truth it's hard. The crew is still a bit stiff, but I expect no less, but the ship hasn't changed. This used to be my room." Aerrow looked around; it had been made into a feminine space by the two girls, Piper having taken Kes under her wing and girlied her up. "It certainly wasn't pink when I lived here."

"Piper said it was nice having another girl on board, not having to always be one of the guys. I don't even know how to be one of the guys."

"You'll pick it up quick enough. Basically here it means you have to laugh at Finn's jokes." The three of them chuckled at that. "I'm going to go for a fly; I'll see you guys at dinner." Aerrow pecked Kes on the cheek and walked out.

"Do you know what's bothering him Kestrel?" Ace still found it funny calling her Kestrel.

"No, he doesn't really talk to me. Or anyone it seems, Piper asked me the same thing. I thought he was still mad at me, but I think its something else."

Ace resumed his brushing, he had a sneaking suspicion he knew what had happened to the young sky knight but he needed to get Aerrow to admit to it. He decided to take some action later that day. He just hoped the other Storm Hawks didn't kill him in the process.

--

Ace and Kes walked into the mess hall earlier than scheduled, hoping to have quick word with the crew before the commander returned.

The room fell silent as they walked in, the other crew still now sure around their former enemy.

"I need to talk to you all, something has happened to Aerrow,"

"What did he fall off his skimmer?" The Storm Hawks surrounded him, Piper asking the question.

"No, not today, I mean something from his capture, whether it was in the prison on Atmosia or on Cyclonia, I think he's been," Ace cut off as Aerrow walked into the room.

Aerrow saw his whole crew having a discussion, maybe they're starting to get along, they're talking at least, he thought.

"Hey guys, what's going on?"

Ace sat down, waiting for the meal to be served. He avoided Aerrow's eye contact and just started eating. The other members chatted about inane things, Aerrow not joining the conversation, just watching his team eat. Ace noticed the commander was not eating. He's noticed the same thing over the last few days, and if the slightly dark circles under Aerrow's eyes were anything to go by he hadn't slept much either.

Ace waited till everyone had finished their dinner before he made his move.

"So Aerrow, you ready to tell us what happened to you?" Aerrow's face showed the panic he felt at the question.

"I don't know what you mean." Aerrow stood up and started to leave, not willing to get into the conversation.

Ace grabbed him by the arm and pinned him up against the bulk head, facing the wall. He pinned the younger man's arms above his head and gripped the narrow toned waist with his other hand. Aerrow screamed out. "Get off me, Ace please."

"What's wrong Aerrow, you know I'm not going to hurt you but your sweating and trembling. Please tell me." Ace released his grip slightly and Aerrow flipped himself over Ace's head landing on the floor in a crouch.

"Nothing does wrong, you wouldn't understand, just leave me alone, that is an order!" Aerrow turned tail and ran for it.

Ace caught him in the hanger, sitting on his skimmer. "Just leave me alone, please." Aerrow hung his head, trying to hide the tears streaming down his face.

"Who raped you Aerrow?" Aerrow snapped his head up and stared at Ace. He saw the rest of his team standing at the hanger doors, all looking shocked.

"What? Is it tattooed on me somewhere? Can you smell it or, it doesn't matter; it's over."

Ace walked over to the bike and sat behind him, cocking his leg over. "I know because I recognized your behaviour. I'll not go into details but when I was a kid I went through something similar. It does not help to hide from it; by lying to your self that it didn't matter, it will destroy you." Aerrow leaned back on the older man.

"I don't know what to think. It doesn't seem that important, considering what else is going on in the world. But I can't stop thinking about how dirty it made me feel, three of them, thinking I deserved it." The rest of the Storm Hawks drifted closer, Kestrel hanging back slightly. This was another thing that was her fault, she thought.

Ace turned Aerrow slightly so he could see his eyes. "Look, if you want to talk about it, with less audience, I'll listen. It'll help, promise." Ace stood up and dragged Aerrow off the bike. "No running away. This is your Crew Aerrow; they'd fall apart without you."

"You mean we'd fall apart," Piper said, "You're one of us now."

--

Aerrow was sitting talking with Piper about his capture in Cyclonia a few days later. She was experimenting on some crystals while Aerrow speculated. He needed her logical mind to help him work a few things out.

"So let me get this straight, she captured and tortured you, you escaped, but you're wondering why she had you in the first place? Does it matter? You're out now, you're safe, and you're home."

"Yeah but why did she do all of that to me? She didn't even ask me any questions, just started to tear me apart."

"Maybe she just likes hurting people."

--

"So, you plan failed Ravess. The ever honourable sky knight saved the traitor. You know it's not a good idea to fail me." Cyclonis had Ravess pinned to the wall by the fire bolt crystal. Raves felt her leather suit start to melt in the heat.

"Yes master, I'm sorry. I thought the girl would be able to get the boy hanged. That would have solved so many problems." Ravess fell to the floor, smoldering as Cyclonis stopped the flow.

"Yes, this new power the boy has shown is interesting, and I treated him as a toy, something to play with then dispose of, I should have known better. He has shown remarkable strength. We have underestimated him. Ravess, the attack of Atmosia will go ahead as planned, I will personally over see it, and deal with any little sky knights who think they know crystals better then me."

--

"So, this power you have over crystals, how do you do it?" Piper had been dying to ask Aerrow since his display in the court room. Finally Aerrow seemed to be returning to normal, he still had his dark moments but Ace was always there to talk him round. The former Talon was showing remarkable heart and compassion, something Piper did not know he had in his body.

"I don't know, it's just as if I'm summoning the lightening claw, only I pull from any crystal around. The first time I pulled from every crystal, but that hurt. It was as if the power was burning through me, the more power, the more it burned. I think."

"Why don't we experiment? If you only pull power from a specific crystal, maybe you can act like a crystal staff and project that power. And that would be why you trashed Cyclonis' torture chamber, you pulled from so many different types it all got mucked up." Aerrow looked skeptical at trying, not wanting to volunteer for more pain but he thought he was better to practice, never know when it might come in handy.

Piper had him start with freeze crystals, Aerrow pulled the power and was able to make a glass of water freeze. He also shattered it with the next thought, using the left over charge in his system.

After a few more experiments Piper gave her conclusions. "It seems you can use the power the crystal has, the way the crystal does, so freezing for freeze, sliming for slimer, or you can use the energy charge for a raw blast. It should be useful, but you're going to have to watch what you use, if you're in the air don't pull from your fuel crystals, the skimmer will nose dive."

Aerrow was feeling a bit raw and tired by the time Piper had done enough experimenting. He excused himself and went to lie down in his bunk. He really was feeling better in himself, Ace being a very unlikely councilor. He wasn't a good patient though, they usually talked while exercising, whether it was beating the crap out of each other or practicing pattern dances. Ace still had very little patience for it but he'd discovered Aerrow talked easier when he was distracted. The talks while sparring tended to end up as arguments due to the violence.

Over all it had been a quiet time since he came back aboard, he was getting closer to Kestrel again, and they had no emergencies to run off to.

A knock on the door brought him out of his thoughts. Kestrel poked her head in and smiled at him. He smiled back and watched her walk into the room. He still liked watching her move in the figure hugging uniform she wore.

"Hey you. I could hear you thinking all the way in my room. What's on you mind?" Aerrow pulled her down beside him. He kissed her softly and she melted against him. Kes rested her head on his chest and signed loudly.

"Nothing major, just thinking how quiet it has been recently. We've not had to go find work to keep this heap running cause of the stipend I received. Trust me it's not usually this quiet. I was thinking we should go and have fun somewhere."

"What, go on a date? That would be nice. We could double with Piper and Ace."

"WHAT!?" Aerrow sat bolt upright, spilling Kes from his chest. She sat up next to him. "What, er, when, how did this happen?"

Kes smirked at his shocked face. "It hasn't, not yet but it's going to. He's always hanging round her lab, when he's not getting pounded by you that is. You do realize you beat him most of the time, I was helping him bind his ribs the other day cause you cracked two of them."

"I didn't really realize, he always rubs me up the wrong way when we're sparring, I think he does it on purpose."

"Or course he does, you blurt out more when you're angry." Aerrow glared at her and leaned against the wall. Kestrel scooted next to him and played with his hair. He laid his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes, enjoying the tingling sensations she was bringing. "Aerrow, you still love me don't you?" Aerrow straightened and stared into her eyes. "It's just that you haven't said it since that day in court. I was wondering if you'd changed your mind." Kes dropped her gaze into the bed, not wanting Aerrow to see the tears in her eyes.

Aerrow grabbed her and yanked her so she was lying on the bed. He kissed her hard and held her down. "Kestrel, I love you. I love everything about you and I love each moment I spend with you. I'm so sorry I've not told you in so long." Aerrow kissed her again softer.

He leaned over her and snuck his hand under her top and played with her bare side. Kes moaned slightly and raised the bottom of Aerrow top, hinting for him to remove it. Aerrow flung his top off and pulled Kestrel on top of himself. She straddled him and ran her hands up and down his chest. The huge scar from the spear crystal was white now and she fingered the edges, feeling the coarse texture a distinct opposite from the teenager's soft skin. Aerrow slid both hands under her top and gripped her back tightly. Kestrel sat up and shed her own top and bra, gazing down at Aerrow, slightly out of breath. Aerrow sat up and caught her nipple in his mouth. Kes gasped as the hot wetness engulfed her.

A voice came out of nowhere. "If you're going to get physical would you please lock your door Aerrow? I did not want to see that." Ace was in the door way covering his eyes. At the first word Kestrel and Aerrow had dove under the covers, covering their lack of clothing. Aerrow came out blushing.

"Sorry Ace, moment kinda came upon us."

"It's still upon us, go away please Ace," the voice from under the covers demanded.

"Have fun kiddies." Ace closed the door behind him.

"We will," was shouted from the other side.

Ace was chuckling when he entered Piper's room. He'd been down to the lab looking for her but she wasn't there. Or on the bridge, so he thought he'd pay her a visit in her room.

He knocked politely and waited for an answer. Piper opened the door and smiled up at him. "Hello you."

Piper felt a rush of excitement as Ace walked into her room for the first time. "What's up?" Ace sat on her chair.

"Nothing much, just wondered where you had got to. I was a bit bored listening to Finn's music choice on the bridge."

"And that's exactly why I wasn't there. I thought I'd get some peace and quiet here." Piper sat on her bed, trying not to grin too much.

"If your wanting to be left alone, I guess I'll go," Ace went to get up when Piper caught his hand.

"No, honestly, peace from the noise Finn calls music was what I meant. Company is more than welcome. Aerrow not up for sparring?"

"Oh yes, but I'm not the first choice of partner." Piper looked confused. "I walked into his room to find him and Kestrel, er"

Piper blushed. "Oh, I see. So how are you anyway?" Piper changed the subject, not wanting to discuss her captain's sex life.

"I'm alright. Aerrow's been beating the crap out of me. My ribs still haven't recovered from the bout a couple of days ago."

"Why do you let him beat on you so much, I cannot believe he's that much better than you? Why let him win so often?"

Ace rubbed the back of his neck. "Mainly cause he blurts out a lot when he's angry and then tends to back track. I think if he was revealing loads and getting his ass kicked he might clam up. Don't worry he's going to get a wake up call soon. He's sounding pretty together with him self. Good job to before he takes me apart." He stretched out his shoulders. "God I'm getting stiff in my old age."

Piper giggled. "Hardly old age. You can't be more than twenty eight."

"Twenty seven actually. Still Aerrow is unbelievably fast. Not as strong as he could be though, thank god." Ace was still squirming in the hard chair, his muscles not relaxing like they should.

"Aw, poor baby, getting beaten up by the teenager. Come here." Ace got up and walked over to the bed. Piper dragged him onto the bed and knelt behind him. She rubbed the back of his neck and he groaned. "Could you take your top off for me? I've got massage oil; I use it on my legs when I've over done it."

Ace removed his top and sat back onto the bed. Piper warmed the oil in her hands then massaged his tense shoulders, Ace trying not to wince. After a while Ace stopped moaning in pain and enjoyed the sensation of the girl's hands on him. He melted into her touch, enjoying his first pain free moments. "That was incredible." Piper slid round to sit next to him, grabbing a towel to wipe her hands with.

"Thanks, I hope you're feeling better."

"Much."

Piper leaned in and wiped the drips of oils that ran down his chest from his shoulders. "I've kinda made a bit of a mess, sorry." She rubbed the oil that was mingling with the black hair on his chest. Ace put his hand on hers to stop her. She looked up and realized how close she was to him. He leaned forward slightly and kissed her tentatively on the lips. He looked into her eyes, expecting to see revulsion but only saw surprise. He leaned in again and caught her lips in a longer kiss, catching her body, and pressing it against his for a brief second. He'd been watching her for days, wanting to reach out and touch her but being too scared.

"Ace, I've wanted to kiss you all week, but I was afraid you'd think I was just a kid."

"And here I am thinking you thought I was an old man." Ace put his arm around her. She kissed him back for a moment and snuggled into his embrace. "Are you sure you're ok with this? I mean if you don't want to I'll understand."

"Ace, I've never had a boyfriend, I've never really met anyone I'd want to go out with, but I really like you. I want to try?"

Ace kissed her again.

_A/N right, longest chapter ever! Anyway hope it was worth waiting for. I know a few of you have me on alert so hi!_

_Love to the reviewers as usual. Aven, tege, Aerrow4eva._

_Please review._


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N __it's been a long time since I updated. I hope there is still a few people still around that will enjoy my final chapter. I like it. I'm please with the whole story actually. There are bits that could have been better and I might review them but for right now here is the last chapter._

The crew on the condor settled into a comfortable routine, each enjoying the new atmosphere on board. Aerrow still occasionally had nightmares that would send him to the balcony to stare at the stars but they were becoming rarer.

During the day the once bright and cheery, energetic commander was more withdrawn and reserved. He wasn't miserable, but he didn't seem to be able to show the innocent enthusiasm he used to, his experiences had made him grow up quickly; realize that everything wasn't a game. He still played keep away with the crew, got into fights about who did the dishes but his heart wasn't in it.

If left to his own devices he would be quietly reflective, inside wondering when Cyclonis was going to make a move, he knew the witch had to have something up her sleeve. Every time he looked in the mirror he saw the scar on his jaw, and the white line that marred Keys's beautiful face angered him. It was all done for no reason. For the enjoyment of an insane girl.

Little did Aerrow know that Cyclonis was already making a move on Atmosia. She herself was leading the attack, wanting to meet her former prisoner again, this time prepared for his new abilities.

Aerrow was pulled from his thoughts one morning by Ace running into the sparring room where Aerrow was exercising.

"It's Cyclonis, she's hit Atmosia, the Red Eagles are destroyed."

Aerrow's face kept its calm visage. Finally it was time to take the ultimate stand against the enemy. He marched past Ace, heading for the bridge still in his exercise gear, a pair of loose black trousers and nothing else.

The appearance of the commander in their midst stopped all the Storm Hawks. Piper's eyes traced the thick rope of scar trailing his chest as he gazed at his crew.

"This is it guys. We make for Atmosia. This is where we make a final stand against Cyclonis. Ace, I want you to stay as far from the witch as possible. She will try something I know it." Ace nodded and felt Piper slip her fingers into his hand. He squeezed them gently.

"Junko I was you to stay on the Condor and use the blasters to defend it. Stork, keep yourself alive. Piper, you keep us coordinated. Ace and Finn, you're on skimmers, keep the Talon's busy and be careful. No doubt Ravess and Snipe will be around; they'll be gunning for you Ace." Ace snorted.

"What about me Aerrow?" Kes stood at the outskirts of the group.

"Help Piper, keep yourself safe." She nodded and blinked back a tear, she hated feeling useless.

"What are you going to do Aerrow? Where are you going to be?" Piper didn't want to ask the question but she knew she had to.

"I'm going after Cyclonis. I'm the best in the sky; I'm the only one who's got a chance." Ace went to interrupt. "No Ace, she'll just blast you out of the sky. She wants me, I can feel it, she'll try to take me alive. It'll give me an advantage."

Aerrow looked round at his crew. Finn gave him a half hearted smile, Junko standing behind him looking slightly worried. Piper was discreetly holding Ace's hand and Kes was on the brink of tears. My family, he thought. He'd fight for them; he'd die for them.

He marched out of the room to go and get ready. He felt Kes following. He arrived at his room and pulled a clean uniform out of the drawer. Kes watched him pull the top over his head. He shed his trousers and pulled uniform ones on, all without turning round. Kes lifted his shoulder plates from the dresser next to her and walked to him. Aerrow turned as she approached. She attached the plates and trailed her fingers across his chest. The abdomen plates were next, then the leg defense. Last was the plate over his heart. Kes laid her hand over his heart, pausing for a second.

"Promise you'll come back to me?" Kes gazed into his eyes.

"I don't make promises I might not keep. I promise I'll stop Cyclonis, by any means possible." He put his hand on top of hers.

Kes finally lost the battle with her tears and they tumbled down her face. Aerrow lifted her chin. "I promise I'll love you till the second I die." Kes crumpled into his arms and he held her.

--

In the hanger the storm hawks were assembled. Expecting a long, though probably quite crap motivational speech even Stork had come down to see them off. The skimmers were going out early to try and clear a path for the carrier to get through.

Aerrow mounted his skimmer and revved the engine. "Storm Hawks, lets fly." And he zoomed out of the hanger bay. The rest were shocked at the abrupt departure but Finn and Ace quickly took off after him. Piper blinked back her own tears. She felt a tentative hand reaching into hers; Kes squeezed her fingers lightly. Piper put her arm round the girl and they walked after the merb and wallop towards the bridge.

--

Aerrow couldn't bring himself to speak to the whole crew. He needed to concentrate. He flew towards the approaching terra, Ace and Finn on his wings.

It didn't take long for the air around them to become full of Talons. Aerrow dispatched a few and watched the other two peel off to battle others. Ace had repainted his switch blade to match his new uniform. Blue and gold, similar colours to Piper's.

Aerrow forced his mind back on to task. It didn't take him long to spot the commander of the Talons in the ranks of switchblades. Cyclonis was standing on the wings of a switch blade that seemed to be flying it's self. He decided to get her attention in style. He pulled his daggers out and released a lightening claw that smashed into the side of her switchblade and rocked it hard. The master of the Talons nearly lost her stance but she quickly balanced her self and turned towards her attacker.

Aerrow and Cyclonis traded a few slashes with their energy weapons before coming to a standstill.

"Boy don't you realize what we could be together? We could rule Atmosia. My crystal knowledge and your power would make us unstoppable."

"Only one problem with that Cyclonis, you a raving loony, and I don't work with them."

"Madness and brilliance are often confused. You cannot beat me boy, you are throwing your life away!"

Aerrow centered himself. He was trying hard not to get into a verbal fight with Cyclonis, trying to save his wits for what he must do. He took a few deep breaths and opened his sensed. He could feel the fuel crystals under him flaring to life and the striker crystals on the daggers in his hands start to throb. Radarr chirped a question at his master. "It's alright buddy, I know what I'm doing."

Radarr had been given the choice of staying with Piper and Kes but he had just chirped a rude sound and sat in his cockpit waiting for his master to get his butt on the skimmer.

Aerrow turned his attention to the girl in front of him and he could see she glowed with power. Radarr had to swing the skimmer round to avoid a blast from her staff when his master zoned out. Aerrow could see the veins in the girl running through her body. There is crystal in her blood, Aerrow realized. She must have absorbed crystal powder from using so many. Aerrow prepared himself for the worst as he started to draw on her crystal energy.

Cyclonis could feel something was wrong. Her body was weakening by the second. She took a lucky shot at his engines.

--

Piper turned the under carrier peepers towards Aerrow just in time to see his skimmer explode and Cyclonis fall from hers. She screamed and fell to her knees. Scrambling up she grabbed the communicator.

"Ace, Finn Aerrow's in trouble, I think he's defeated Cyclonis but his skimmer is down. The Talon's are pulling out, find him!"

Ace and Finn immediately turned towards the last known position of the young sky knight and saw the smoke from the collapsed skimmer and the falling empty switch blade. A body was falling with that bike but it was too small for Aerrow's.

Finn lifted his energy bow and used the sights so try and spot Aerrow somewhere in the wreckage. He could make out a small parachute away in the distance and knew is as Radarr's. Finn dispatched Ace towards the small creature and continued to look for his captain.

Ace screamed across the sky and plucked Radarr from the air, sitting him behind him. "You alright?"

Radarr wasn't paying him any attention; he was too busy looking up with a slight smile on his face. Ace was thrown off balance as the blue creature scrambled up onto his shoulder. Ace only had a few seconds to wonder before a body dropped onto the back of the bike. He turned round to see Aerrow smirking at him as he balanced on the rear seat. Aerrow's glider folded itself back and he gripped the older man's belt to keep him on.

"Can I catch a lift?"

--

Back on the Condor the celebrations were nonstop as they mad their way to Atmosia to report that Cyclonis was dead. Aerrow had stopped her heart by pulling on the crystal dust in her veins. He had felt her die while still inside her. Aerrow's participation in the celebrations was brief before heading back out on to the balcony to think.

He took a deep breath in and held it for a moment as he considered his life. He could register as an official sky knight in one week, on his eighteenth birthday. He had defeated Cyclonia, freed captive slaves, fallen in love and made a new friend all in the last three months. What was left for them to do?

Kes wandered out onto the balcony and sat down beside him. She threaded her fingers through his and just sat close to him. Minutes later Ace and Piper joined them. The new couple sat down next to them, Ace sitting next to Aerrow.

"You alright mate?" Ace was worried that Aerrow might slip back into the depression that had plagued him after his release from prison.

"Yeah, I was just wondering what we are going to do now we're all peaceful."

Ace chuckled. "I doubt it'll stay quiet for long." As if hearing Ace's ill fated statement, Finn ran onto the balcony.

"Rogue Talons' have attacked the outpost near Amazonia, we're the closest ship in the air, the council is asking us to help."

"But the council doesn't recognize us as a squadron, why would they call on us?"

The rest of the Storm Hawks stared at Aerrow as if he's lost his mind.

"Do you really think that after all you've done, all you went through, you weren't going to be officially registered, no matter what age you are?" Piper asked incredulously.

Aerrow stared at them all, still a bit confused. Ace dragged him up by the arm. "Come on Sky Knight. Told you things weren't going to be quiet."

_A/N_

_So what did you think? Apart from the three month hiatus that is. School has been a nightmare. Any hoo I've got a couple of other stories in mind, none of which follow on from this but I did have an idea of doing a story of Aerrow becoming a sky knight. _

_See ya l8r!_

_Xxx_

_Please review!_


End file.
